Minority rights advocacy group, AfriForum, has laid the blame for the financial woes of the South African Broadcasting Corporation on ideology.
In a statement, the body said that management decisions were based on ideology, rather than business sense. It noted that in a presentation to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, the SABC has taken losses of some R700 million in 2023/24, and needed around R7.5 billion to cover its costs.
AfriForum argued that decisions particularly concerning Afrikaans language programming were made without due regard for advertising revenue.
Alana Bailey, AfriForum’s Head of Cultural Affairs, commented: “One would think that when there are high viewer numbers that attract advertisers, the programmes, time slots and channels responsible for this would be nurtured. Not only can it ensure that the costs of these programmes will be covered, but cross-subsidisation can take place to cover the costs of other necessary broadcasts. However, in recent years, SABC TV has discontinued popular Afrikaans broadcasts, tried to evade payments to producers and other service providers, resulting in the alienation of leaders in the industry, and played around with the channels and times of Afrikaans TV news bulletins, causing viewer numbers to decline dramatically.”
AfriForum also claimed that it had been informed from sources within the SABC that there was an intention to terminate Afrikaans news bulletins on weekends.
“For many people, the SABC provides the only TV news service they have access to. It is therefore essential to ensure that the service is continued and managed sustainably,” Bailey concluded.