The Sunday Times reports that faced with an unenviable choice last month -- either cough up to service its eight-figure municipality account, or settle its salary bill – the SA Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) took the high road and paid its staff.
And while the lights are still on in Auckland Park – for now, anyway – the public broadcaster is desperately hoping a R3.2bn government guarantee will entice commercial banks to provide the loans it needs to stay afloat. SABC board chair Bongumusa Makhathini said last week: “I’m not sure how we are going to pay for salaries come end of June. We have also not maintained any of our infrastructure and a communication blackout is imminent. We anticipated Day Zero in March, but we have managed to stay on air until now.” The broadcaster will meet with the municipality this week to discuss its debt, which was confirmed by a municipal spokesperson. The broadcaster also owes Sentech – a state-owned business that provides broadcasting signal distribution – about R317m, and the Multichoice division SuperSport R208m.
- Read the full original of Mpumzi Zuzile’s report on this story on page 1 of The Sunday Times of 16 June 2019
- Read too, SABC faces 'extremely uncertain' financial position, at Fin24
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page