public broadcaster

The Minister of Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities, Noluthando Mayende-Sibiya has sharply condemned the idea of a porn channel on South African television.

Mayende-Sibiya says that, “Adults can source porn wherever, but now when you want to bring it at home, then it becomes a problem. Also, there is a linkage between porn and violence and the abuse of women and the abuse of children.”

Job cuts are looming at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) as the new board and CEO Solly Mokoetle, strive to slash costs and reduce the bloated head count of nearly four thousand employees.

Meanwhile, the SABC is appealing to the Department of Communications and Parliament’s communications committee to help it get the auditor-general to undertake a comprehensive forensic audit to clean up the rot in the organisation because it cannot pay for such an audit itself.

SABC board members have scorned weekend reports suggesting there is a rift between the new board and the ­public broadcaster’s new chief executive, Solly Mokoetle.

According to a Sunday Times report the new board is set to challenge Mokoetle’s appointment by the SABC’s interim board.

The Sunday Times quoted anonymous board members saying they would act on the Gobodo findings, allegedly that Mokoetle had failed in his corporate governance duties.

Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) has launched a campaign on its website calling for the public to petition the director- general of the Department of Communications, Mamodupi Mohlala, to allow more time to comment on the controversial Public Service Broadcast Bill.

The Department of Communications has announced that the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) will receive a bailout of more than R1 billion.

Communications Minister, Siphiwe Nyanda, points out that, “We hope that the financial injection by government will help the SABC meet its urgent needs, such as payment of outstanding debts and other matters of priority."

An urgent meeting was held this week between the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) interim board and frustrated independent television producers to discuss a new plan to pay producers.

The meeting come after the public broadcaster, which owes independent producers R60 million, failed to meet its first payment agreements in September. It was agreed at this week’s meeting that R10.8 million will be ring-fenced and used to pay producers owed under R200 000, who were hardest hit as they tended to be the smaller companies.

The Department of Communications has submitted the Public Service Broadcasting Bill, which seeks to abolish television licences and introduce other changes to public broadcasting in South Africa.

The bill, should it be approved, will establish a Public Service Broadcasting Fund and also establish an international broadcasting services division within the South African Broadcasting Corporation's (SABC) and transfer Channel Africa to this new operating unit.

The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) interim board has suspended four members of the broadcaster’s executive management, pending the outcome of internal disciplinary processes.

The four are the chief financial officer, Robin Nicholson, the group executive: content enterprises, Mvuzo Mbebe, the head of audience services, Anton Heunis, and the head of group procurement, Mabela Satekge.

The interim board chairperson, Irene Charnley, says that the board is committed to ensuring that the correct disciplinary process was followed.

Actor-director Sello Maake ka Ncube is going hungry for 30 days to protest the way government and the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) have been spending the public’s money.

Maake, who joined a growing group of media professionals whose stated aim is to use the hunger strike to shame the SABC into getting its act together, believes South Africans are starving for local content.

Maake says he had to take a stand because the public broadcaster is abusing the African culture.

The interim board of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has denied rumours that four executives had been suspended in connection with fraud and mismanagement highlighted in an auditor-general’s report.

The board was reacting to reports emanating from within the SABC that Robin Nicholson (chief financial officer), Mvuzo Mbebe (group executive: content enterprises), Mabela Satekge (head: procurement) and Anton Heunis (head: audience services) have been suspended.