The board together with management of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is expected to once again report financial loss and revenue decline in the 2018/19 financial year when it appears before the Portfolio Committee on Communications on Tuesday.
Although recording losses in the two previous financial years, the situation has improved from R1 billion in losses in 2016/17 to R744 million in the 2017/18 financial year.
The SABC will brief the committee on its annual financial and performance report for the year under review, in which it faced worsening financial challenges. In light of these challenges, the SABC requested, through the Department of Communications, financial relief of R3.2 billion from the National Treasury, a request the committee supported. However, the SABC only received R2.1 billion in the 2019/20 financial year. The remaining R1.1 billion will be transferred after the SABC has met in full all the conditions set out by the National Treasury.
The committee has acknowledged the co-operation between SABC, the Department of Communications and National Treasury, and expressed confidence that all the conditions will be met.
Meanwhile, the committee will also be briefed tomorrow on the annual reports of the other nine entities reporting to the Department of Communications and the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa. The entities are Sentech, the State Information Technology Agency, Broadband Infranco, the Universal Service Access Agency of South Africa, the Universal Service Access Fund, the South African Post Office, .ZADNA, the National Electronic Media Institute of South Africa and the Films and Publications Board.
Justice Molafo
14 October 2019
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