Hlaudi pretends to support local artists yet owes them over R25 million

24 November 2016

The SABC has, for over two years, owed South Africa's musicians R25.7 million in royalty payments, a reply to a DA parliamentary question has revealed.

According to the reply, two societies representing musicians, SA Music Performance Rights Association (SAMPRA) and Independent Music Performance Rights Association (IMPRA) have been owed this amount since 2014 by the SABC's radio division.

This flies in the face of Motsoeneng’s constant pontificating claims to support South Africa’s local musicians.

His 90% local content policy has now been revealed to be nothing more than an attempt to gain the public support of South Africa's musicians during his legal woes, as it is not backed by a real commitment to provide the financial backing in royalty payments.

The DA will be following up this matter. We will submit further parliamentary questions to find out when the outstanding monies will be paid to our country's musicians.

The DA fully supports South Africa's musicians and will fight to make sure that the SABC pays back the money.

Issued by Phumzile Van Damme, DA Shadow Minister of Communications, 24 November 2016