Parliament, Tuesday, 18 September 2019 – The Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) wants to emphasise that the investigative processes currently underway at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) must unravel the realities of deeply entrenched state capture. Scopa today received a briefing from the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) on cases under investigation at the SABC. The committee was pleased to hear that the SABC is in agreement with the SIU’s investigations and subsequent report.
Scopa would like these processes to unravel the complexities of state capture so that the SABC can inspire confidence as a public broadcaster. In the recent past, the SABC has drifted from its public broadcaster mandate to become a state broadcaster. Therefore, these investigations are bound to be a painful exercise, requiring everyone to put their shoulders to the wheel to assist the process.
In this way, the SABC will inspire confidence and will be able to generate revenue from all stakeholders, including shareholders, commercial advertisers or TV licence-holders.
The committee also believes that it is important for the SABC to foster an environment in which unity of purpose can flourish. Some of the revelations from today’s meeting indicate that the SABC is still fragmented, even at a board level, and this concerns Scopa.
The committee has asked the SABC to submit a schedule of all outstanding matters relating to human resources, particularly those the SIU is dealing with. The committee will in future still meet with the SABC when it comes to matters of fruitless, wasteful and irregular expenditure, and has committed to monitoring the SABC closely this term.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF SCOPA, MR MKHULEKO HLENGWA.
For media enquiries, please contact the committee’s Media Officer:
Name: Ms Faith Ndenze
Parliamentary Communication Services
Tel: 021 403 8062
Cell: 081 377 0686
Email: fndenze@parliament.gov.za
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