Johannesburg - The SABC is set to up its wage bill by about R100 million by increasing salaries and board member fees, and filling vacancies.
The salary increases for permanent staff, board members and freelancers are included in the public broadcaster’s latest corporate plan for 2015/16 through to 2017/18.
“A 7.5 percent increase has been included for permanent staff, board fees, freelancers and temporary staff requirements,” states the report.
It says an allowance of R60m for vacancies has been included in the budget, but all vacancies will be approved in a newly formed committee.
An amount of R41m has been included for “midpoint salary adjustments” for certain salary scales.
Limiting the wage bill was one of the conditions of the loan guarantee given by the National Treasury to the broadcaster when it sought to borrow R1 billion from Nedbank in 2009.
In 2013, SABC staff threatened to strike after an attempt was made to reverse salary increases that were awarded in December the previous year under chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng.
There are almost 1 300 freelance staff at the SABC, including newsreaders and sports presenters.
The SABC states that it is budgeting for a R250m profit before tax interest, tax, depreciation and a net profit of R19m for the 2016 period.
Revenue from TV licences is expected to reach R1bn.
It notes that commercial revenues are constrained by a tough economic climate “where clients are reducing their marketing and resultant advertising spend”.
“There have also been client cutbacks as a result of declining TV audiences due to non-performance of critical programming,” reads the report.
The Presidency said yesterday that President Jacob Zuma was aware of issues in the public domain regarding the appointment and removal of SABC board members and the debate on the legislation that should be followed.
Rachel Kalidass and Ronnie Lubisi became the latest board members to be removed from the board, raising fresh concerns about the deepening instability and governance.
Presidency spokesman Mac Maharaj said: “The president, who appoints members of the SABC board on the advice of the National Assembly, views stability and good corporate governance at the SABC as being of paramount importance.
“He is looking into the matter with a view to finding a solution.”
Last week, the SACP called for investigations into the state of the SABC, which the party said was facing governance and administrative disarray.
On Thursday, Parliament will interview shortlisted candidates to fill the vacancy of former chairperson Ellen Tshabalala, who resigned last year.
SABC spokesman Kaizer Kganyago could not be reached for comment on Monday.
The Star