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The government must either provide annual funding for the SABC or the broadcaster's board must be allowed to go ahead with retrenchments, writes Kate Skinner.
The SABC sits at the centre of the media landscape.
It's the largest broadcaster in South Africa with the biggest audiences. It is the only broadcaster that broadcasts in all our official languages including in two San languages - Khwedam and !Xuntali - across the country, every day, every hour.
Further, the SABC is the only media institution with regional offices, ensuring that rural and marginalised communities are given a voice. In some parts of the country, it remains the only source of information for communities.
With the pressures of Covid-19, the situation has been made still more stark with the collapse and weakening of community media.
In a South African National Editors' Forum report released in July 2020, the Association of Independent Publishers announced that 80 small community print publications had closed. These are publications that primarily service small towns and rural areas leaving the SABC playing an even more important role.
Post-apartheid promise
Post-apartheid, the SABC held enormous promise.
The once apartheid state broadcaster was transformed from a state to a public broadcaster through the passing of legislation such as the Broadcasting Act of 1999. It shifted its mandate to cover all South Africans.
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Over the years, it produced some award-winning programming, including its brilliant and incisive coverage of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, excellent Special Assignment investigations post-1994 and its solid, competent coverage of elections (barring the 2016 elections).
Also, its dramas and soapies have been hugely popular over the years - and continue to be popular. Further to that, the SABC has played its critical public mandate role by supporting training and interns and a burgeoning independent production sector.
Not without controversies
However, from early on there have been controversies.
This comes with the territory of being such an important institution with such potential power and influence.
Also, the SABC has not been assisted with competent oversight. In fact, there have been crises with all its oversight structures including the minister, Parliament and regulator. The regulator has been weak and hands-off.
Parliament has intervened when not needed and shied away in times of crisis and there have been dizzying shifts at the level of the Department of Communications with a constant revolving door of ministers, some of which have played a destructive, illegal and interventionist role, such as Faith Muthambi.
In terms of funding, the SABC has also experienced serious funding problems reaching back to the 2008/2009 financial year - and before that.
After the political intervention of Thabo Mbeki in the appointment of the 2007 board, the board collapsed and the fallout was a loss of almost a R1 billion. The interim board put in place was forced to borrow this from commercial banks, against a government guarantee of R1.47 billion. Debt again escalated under Hlaudi Motsoeneng, forcing the board that came after him to seek a R3.2 billion bailout that was eventually secured in the 2019/2020 financial year.
Also, there have been significant problems on the programming front. The ongoing financial crises have taken their toll. During the 2008/2009 crisis, the SABC suddenly stopped paying independent producers, crippling the industry on which they depended. The funding crisis led to the SABC endlessly repeating programming.
Also, there has been ongoing censorship reaching back to the days of the "blacklisting" crisis in 2006. Then, under Motsoeneng we had a flurry of deeply problematic decisions, including a directive to ensure 70% good news, the illegal banning of the coverage of protest action before the highly contested 2016 elections, and a decision to implement 90% local content overnight. Finally, he illegally amended the SABC's editorial policies in 2016 to concentrate power in his office - he appointed himself the editor-in-chief.
Post Motsoeneng
Post-Motsoeneng, who was the public broadcaster's chief operating officer, the SABC was left in tatters. The board was removed in 2016. An interim board came in and then a new permanent board in 2018. And it has made progress.
It secured the R3.2 billion bailout, looked at ways to reduce costs such as selling off non-core assets, reviewed hundreds of illegal contracts and passed an excellent set of editorial policies in 2020 to safeguard the independence of the SABC.
Appropriately, the head of news was made the editor-in-chief. Most importantly the editorial team ensured excellent, fair and balanced coverage of the 2019 elections.
However, a significant crisis has converged around the board and executive management's proposed retrenchments.
It is important to understand that the retrenchments have been a long time coming. The issue goes back to 2009 when it was included as a requirement in the 2009 government guarantee. However, no retrenchments happened. From then on, the decision was constantly put off. Then we had the reckless employment of staff under Motsoeneng.
Over time, the salary bill represented a higher and higher percentage of the SABC's expenditure. It now stands at an unsustainable 43%. It is important to pause here and look at other broadcasters and the percentage of their expenditure spent on salaries - in MultiChoice it is 15%, at eMedia (broadcaster of eTV and eNCA) it is 11% and at the BBC it is 29%. This gives context.
Financial situation
Also, it is important to understand the bleak financial situation across the media sector in terms of retrenchments. Covid-19 has wreaked devastation across the media sector - with advertising dropping to almost zero during the hard lockdown.
This has forced the media sector as a whole to retrench. Let's look at the levels. All the big media companies have been retrenching - Media24 announced it would retrench 510 people, Primedia has just finished a retrenchment process of an undisclosed number of people. Caxton has pursued waves of retrenchments.
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Initially, the SABC talked about retrenching 600 staff, now this has been reduced to 400. Also, new posts will be created that should absorb some of those that have been retrenched.
Of course, all retrenchments are terrible - and now more than ever in an economically depressed environment. Also, it is important to look at where the cuts are made, so as to ensure that the newsroom as far as possible is safeguarded. But not retrenching is worse than retrenching if the SABC is brought to its knees.
Way forward
We cannot allow the SABC to fail. It is too important. No one will step into the gap to produce regional programming and African language programmes across the country, hour after hour, day after day.
The restructuring process does need to ensure that the SABC fulfils its public mandate and that as far as possible that critical jobs in news and current affairs are safeguarded.
However, this is a critical moment. Either the government promises to secure R1 billion for the SABC on an annual basis or it allows the board to move ahead with its restructuring process. We simply can't have it both ways.
- Kate Skinner writes in her personal capacity.
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