Parliament, Tuesday 28 March 2017 – The Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) has vowed to assist the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) until it can fully operate on its own.
Scopa conducted an oversight visit to the SABC today to scrutinise the issues that have resulted to the amount of financial mismanagement that is evident at the SABC. During the oversight visit Scopa conducted an in loco inspection at the Internal Audit section, Supply Chain Management section and to the Human Resources section to speak to the employees who are actually doing the work in those sections. This exercise was to get to the root of where the problem is, as these are the sections whose lack of proper management and financial controls have led and contributed to the financial mess that the SABC is in currently.
During the in loco inspection, Scopa found that there are a lot of vacant positions at the SABC, particularly at senior management level, something which speaks to leadership instability at the corporation. The Committee is also concerned about the manner in which suspensions are being handled at the SABC. Scopa found that some suspensions, which are on full pay, can take up to more than a year to be resolved. This has a serious impact on the finances of the institution and if this way of dealing with suspensions is not remedied, it will have dire consequences for the SABC.
After engaging with the management of the SABC and the newly appointed interim board of the SABC, Scopa has requested the SABC to furnish the Committee with a detailed list of all consultants the corporation has used in the past two years that were referred to by the Auditor-General in the Annual Report. Scopa has also requested management to explain in detail what action management has taken against those employees that have paid for services without contracts in place, which contributed to the R5bn irregular expenditure at the SABC.
Scopa is committed to working together with all stakeholders that are responsible for the SABC to assist it to overcome all its problems. The Committee would also like to congratulate the newly appointed SABC board.
ISSUED BY PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF SCOPA, MR THEMBA GODI
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Name: Ms Faith Kwaza
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Email: fkwaza@parliament.gov.za
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