Bailouts not a silver bullet to solve woes at SABC

7 October 2019

The IFP strongly believes that the latest bailout paid out from National Treasury to the public broadcaster on conditions should be the very last money it receives from the public.

The IFP have long held that throwing money at non-financial problems only exasperates the situation at the ailing state-owned company.

Cash-strapped SABC will today receive an allocation of R2.1billion. This money according to the SABC Chairperson will go to covering existing debt and paying salaries of employees.

The IFP is of the view that not a single condition which has been set out by the National Treasury to the SABC may be deviated from. Salaries in particular should match or be in line with the threshold set by Treasury.

It is unacceptable that public funds which could have been used to  build houses, improve the quality of life of South Africans and provide clean running water in communities across the country is being spent on keeping the SABC afloat.

Communications and Digital Technologies Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams told the public in a press conference last week that strict conditions had to be met yet, only 5 of the 8 conditions were met and therefore R2.1 billion of the requested R3.2 billion will be paid.

We cannot make exceptions like this, we are setting a bad precedent that regardless of preconditions, the state will clear the money for a bailout anyway.

It is our hope that this will be the very last bailout the SABC receives, as it is on the road to recovery.

Issued by Zandile Majozio, IFP Spokesperson on Communications and Digital Technologies, 7 October 2019