Procuring television programmes from abroad was tantamount to seeking to buy a pet dog, “but you also take it with its fleas”, the SABC told MPs yesterday. This was because popular shows often came with expensive strings attached, including other material that was never aired.
This was the explanation given by acting group chief executive Phil Molefe to the portfolio committee on communications when MPs confronted him on the high level of impairments suffered by the public broadcaster.
SABC board chairman Ben Ngubane painted a positive picture of the state broadcaster’s financial position, saying it had turned a profit of R12 million in the first quarter of this financial year and progress had been made in “addressing irregularities”. These were first reported in auditor-general Terence Nombembe’s report on a battery of irregular and wasteful spending at the corporation two years ago.
Ngubane said the corporation was on track to ensure “accountability and compliance with regulations and reporting requirements”.
There was no mention that the entity would seek a financial bailout. Two years ago it received a state guarantee of nearly R1.5 billion.
It was not clear yesterday how far the SABC had progressed in resolving the problems reported by Nombembe. He reported R111m in fruitless, wasteful and irregular expenditure, much of which was for the acquisition of international programme content.
He reported double payments, overpayments, material paid for but not received and programme titles acquired more than once from the same supplier during the same licence period.
Molefe explained that the SABC might, for example, want to acquire a soap opera abroad “which drives audiences and drives revenue”, but the broadcaster ended up with 10 other programmes with “no value” that ended up being shelved.
Pressed by committee chairman ANC MP Eric Kholwane on whether he was being serious, Molefe repeated it was like getting a dog but “you also take it with its fleas”. He explained that “we use this language” in the television industry.
Molefe explained that the SABC was in a pickle when the price for broadcasting rights for the June 2 match between Bafana Bafana and Egypt had rocketed from R500 000 to R5m.
Originally the rights were held by the SA Football Association (Safa). However, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) had given an instruction in March that the rights for African Cup of Nations qualifiers would revert to it. Even though the SABC had entered into negotiations with Sport Live, the broadcast rights holder on behalf of CAF in France, and had reluctantly agreed to pay the R5m, the feed had not materialised.
Noting that the SABC “will not pay this amount going forward”, Molefe said a similar problem had arisen for the Bafana Bafana game with Niger in Niamey on Sunday. - Donwald Pressly