Publications
Partners
- SABC board members hoping to serve on the next board said they had no say on last year's retrenchments or former news head Phathiswa Magopeni's dismissal.
- New board candidate hopefuls said the current board had to accept some blame for allowing the retrenchments and Magopeni's ouster to occur.
- All candidates agreed that the retrenchments did not put the broadcaster in a better financial position, but drained it of vital skills.
- Get the biggest business stories emailed to you every weekday, or go to the News24 front page.
While the candidates interviewed for board positions at the SABC this week differed on whether the current board was at fault for retrenchments at the public service broadcaster last year, there was consensus on one thing: they believe job cuts yielded no positive results for the business.
A parliamentary subcommittee of communications held its second day of interviews for SABC board members on Wednesday. MPs are interviewing 37 candidates to appoint 12 people to a new SABC board to be formed by mid-October, when the term of the current board expires.
Five candidates who serve on the current outgoing board told MPs that they had no say in the retrenchments, while candidates from outside the broadcaster said the current board must bear some responsibility.
Some of the external candidates also did not hold back their criticism towards the incumbent board for how former SABC head of news, Phathiswa Magopeni's dismissal was handled. Magopeni was dismissed at the beginning of the year and successfully challenged this at the CCMA.
Constitutional and corporate governance lawyer, Advocate Tseliso Thipanyane, said the dismissal of Magopeni and last year's retrenchments were a symptom of myriad deficiencies at board level.
'Fix leadership and management'
"We need to do a lot to reverse the tide. There was a loss of over R600 million and a decline in advertising revenue and TV licences. That adds up to a loss of faith and people are going to alternatives like the Netflix of this world, when we should be competing in that space," said Thipanyane.
READ | Suspended property regulator boss, axed head of news crack SABC board shortlist
The broadcaster announced the retrenchment of 621 members of staff last year, only to advertise 484 freelance jobs in February. Thipanyane described this as a failure, saying the SABC has potential and should not be retrenching people.
"The new board must look at the reports of the Auditor-General and the Zondo Commission and look at what needs to be done to restore the broadcaster. We should be a top ten broadcaster and to do this we need to fix leadership and management," Thipanyane said.
Thipanyane said he hoped the board positions would go to capable South Africans who want to take the broadcaster to new heights, and not politically aligned appointees who are only pursuing board seats to seek their fortunes.
On Tuesday evening SABC board member David Maimela said the board played no role in the retrenchments, but that this was a condition of the National Treasury's R3.5 billion bailout.
Earlier on Tuesday, another candidate and current board member Mamodupi Mohlala-Mulaudzi told the subcommittee that Magopeni's dismissal rested with SABC group CEO Madoda Mxagwe and that the rest of the board was merely updated on the matter.
On Wednesday, veteran broadcaster, Mpho Tsedu said SABC board members must be fearless and ethical to confront corruption and renegotiate arrangements that exist at the expense of the broadcaster.
He said the lack of compelling content on SABC platforms was a major failure of past leadership. He said the failure by the SABC to spend its R800 million budget for content procurement was an indictment on the current board.
READ | R3.2 billion failed to bail out SABC, oversight committee hears
Get with the programme
Commercial media veteran Quentin Green said without desirable ratings, attracting advertisers would become harder for the public service broadcaster. He said the SABC could solve this by investing in quality programming and ensuring that a bigger share of the entity's budget goes to programming.
Green was appointed at the SABC as deputy director general of finance and administration in 1989. He has since served as commercial director of e.tv in 1999, as COO of TVAfrica in 2001, and as a communications unit member at KPMG.
Green contracted shows like People of The South and helped bring in Felicia Mabuza-Suttle for her talk show. He also commissioned Mfundi Vundla to produce the iconic soap opera, Generations.
"The grave concern there is the uncertainty expressed by the Auditor-General in the business' ability to continue as a going concern. When you look at the audience ratings and all of the channels in South Africa, not a single programme in the top 10 shows on SABC3 has a higher rating than e.tv," said Green.
Green said the current TV licence system has proven to be unworkable, as a tax needs to be payable and affordable. He said whatever system replaced the TV licence must serve to subsidise the poorest South African households.
