tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/faith-muthambi-30512/articlesFaith Muthambi – The Conversation2018-03-08T14:17:17Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/929402018-03-08T14:17:17Z2018-03-08T14:17:17ZCan Ramaphosa centre the ANC and quell opposition parties?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209526/original/file-20180308-30979-kg74rk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in parliament.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brenton Geach/EPA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>These are early days for the new <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2018-03-01-ramaphosa-plays-the-hand-he-was-dealt">Cyril Ramaphosa-led government</a> in South Africa. Two crucial and inter-related strategic challenges face the new President: to consolidate support within the African National Congress (ANC), and to consolidate the ANC’s position as the dominant party in time for the 2019 national elections, seeking to reverse the decline it had experienced under Jacob Zuma.</p>
<p>Dealing with internal ANC issues is the most difficult and the foundation for the others. Zuma is <a href="https://theconversation.com/zumas-time-is-up-but-what-does-it-mean-for-south-africa-91873">out of power</a>, and will not be back. Even though his departure will weaken their capacity to work as a coherent force, it will <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-zuma-regime-is-dead-but-its-consequences-will-linger-for-a-long-time-92066">take time</a> to dismantle the alliance that made up disparate elements he built around him. </p>
<p>Ramaphosa has started the job by <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2018-02-26-cyril-ramaphosa-cabinet-reshuffle-reaction-anc-da-eff-ifp">removing</a> the most obvious symbols of Zuma’s alliance with the <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-22513410">Gupta family</a> who stand accused of being the major perpetrators of <a href="https://qz.com/825789/state-capture-jacob-zuma-the-guptas-and-corruption-in-south-africa/">state capture</a>. These include former ministers such as <a href="http://ewn.co.za/Topic/Communications-Minister-Faith-Muthambi">Faith Muthambi</a> who ran public administration and <a href="http://ewn.co.za/Topic/Mosebenzi-Zwane">Mosebenzi Zwane</a> who had been given the minerals portfolio. Both became notorious through combining incompetence and corruption, and have no independent power based within the ANC. </p>
<p>Others who had some internal support were demoted into less prestigious and powerful positions – <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.za/2018/02/26/bathabile-dlamini-for-women-what-the-actual-hell-say-tweeters_a_23371557/">Bathabile Dlamini</a> who has been made minister of women and children and <a href="https://mg.co.za/tag/malusi-gigaba">Malusi Gigaba</a> who is back at home affairs come to mind. </p>
<p>Picking fights carefully so as not to tackle all adversaries simultaneously is a wise political strategy. Having won with a small margin does not allow him to go ahead with massive purges, an unwise course of action in any event.</p>
<p>As far as trying to forge the ANC into a cohesive force again, Ramaphosa’s real challenge remains closer to the ground. Among local ANC members and representatives an entrenched ethos sees positions of power as key to material benefit and jobs for relatives, friends and political allies. Tackling this is not going to be easy and it’s not clear that Ramaphosa will be able to do it – certainly not in the immediate term.</p>
<h2>ANC as the dominant party?</h2>
<p>His urgent task is to address the <a href="https://theconversation.com/jacob-zumas-demise-is-bad-news-for-south-africas-opposition-parties-91771">electoral challenges</a> posed by the two main opposition parties, the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF). Both cater to different constituencies disillusioned. </p>
<p>The DA’s main policy platform focuses on good governance and rational management. The EFF’s on <a href="https://www.fin24.com/Opinion/is-julius-malemas-eff-a-nation-builder-or-a-wrecking-ball-20180307">radical social change</a>. Their shared opposition to the ANC has made them strange bedfellows in a number of key municipalities, thus removing the ANC from power. But this has already begun to unravel in the wake of Ramaphosa’s ascendancy. In <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2018-03-04-nelson-mandela-bay-effs-attempt-to-remove-trollip-ushers-in-a-new-unstable-era-for-coalition-politics/#.WqEhVWpubIU">Nelson Mandela Bay</a> the EFF has withdrawn support for the DA, its dominant coalition partner. More political shifts like this may take place in preparation for the next elections.</p>
<p>Ramaphosa can undercut the DA threat by his (re-)appointment of reputable and fiscally-responsible people. He has already done so in the National Treasury with <a href="https://theconversation.com/ramaphosa-has-chosen-a-team-that-will-help-him-assert-his-authority-92538">Nhlanhla Nene</a> and at public enterprises with <a href="https://www.fin24.com/Economy/pravin-gordhan-back-this-time-as-minister-of-public-enterprises-20180226">Pravin Gordhan</a>. And eliminating blatant cases of nepotism and corruption will also <a href="https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/opinion/2018-03-01-why-a-complacent-da-could-lose-cape-town-to-anc/">steal DA votes</a> for the ANC.</p>
<p>But tackling the EFF is a more complicated task, as illustrated by the recent reemergence of the land issue, which is now the <a href="https://m.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/if-you-see-a-beautiful-piece-of-land-take-it-malema-20170228">its clarion call</a>. Can this issue affect the ANC’s electoral prospects? What seems to be Ramaphosa’s strategy in the face of this potential threat? </p>
<p>Land isn’t a new issue, having been a material and symbolic <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/topic/land-act-dispossession-segregation-and-restitution">concern for centuries</a>. Colonial conquest and settlement centred on the acquisition of land by force, which played a crucial role in driving indigenous people into the labour market in the 19th and 20th centuries. Addressing the consequences of the <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/topic/natives-land-act-1913">1913 Natives Land Act</a> was a formative experience for the ANC, which had been <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/topic/anc-origins-and-background">created</a> in the previous year, and remains a challenge to this day. </p>
<p>Land dispossession entrenched the distinctive feature of the South African economy: <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/archive/the-migrant-labour-system">migrant labour</a> as the foundation for black deprivation and white prosperity. </p>
<p>In 1994 a <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/article/land-restitution-south-africa-1994">land restitution process</a> was put in place by the newly elected ANC government. But it hasn’t met the intended targets for a number of reasons. These have included bureaucratic inefficiency, inadequate support structures for small-scale farmers (in financing, marketing, skill development), conflicts among beneficiaries, corruption and limited interest due to the meagre political weight of claimants.</p>
<p>While it is clear that the cost of land due to the need to offer compensation is not the main problem hampering land reform, it has become symbolic of the obstacles facing the process. When the ANC <a href="https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/national/2018-02-27-parliament-adopts-effs-land-claims-motion-but-anc-seeks-amendments/">joined</a> the EFF in parliament in referring the compensation clause for review, it recognised that opposing the motion would be risky, allowing the EFF to speak on behalf of land-hungry people. </p>
<p>It showed that the land conundrum is <a href="https://m.news24.com/Columnists/MaxduPreez/real-action-on-land-needed-to-counter-extreme-eff-rhetoric-20180306">electorally dangerous</a> for the ANC.</p>
<p>On the other hand, supporting the motion but amending it to conform to other imperatives (stable economy, increased agricultural production, food security) could keep the ANC ahead of the political challenge while retaining its ability to shape the outcome of the review to suit its general policy direction. </p>
<p>Meeting the challenges from the opposition parties will strengthen the ANC’s dominance and Ramaphosa’s control internally. The internal and external challenges could therefore be met in an integrated way. In a sense, this would allow it to return to the position it had enjoyed during Nelson Mandela’s tenure, exercising hegemony over state and society. </p>
<p>But the road is still long and full of obstacles.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/92940/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ran Greenstein does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Meeting the challenges from the opposition will strengthen the ANC’s dominance. How well its new leadership copes will become clearer over the next few months.Ran Greenstein, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/721132017-01-31T15:54:36Z2017-01-31T15:54:36ZAre MPs up to the task of fixing South Africa’s troubled public broadcaster?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154762/original/image-20170130-7653-lh5jh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"> Demonstrators protest against censorship by the South African Broadcasting Corporation.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Mike Hutchings </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>South Africa’s public broadcaster, the SABC, is in trouble. It has been for years. But things are a little more dangerous than before. There are two critical processes on the go, one to address the SABC’s financial and governance crises and the second to appoint an interim board. </p>
<p>Each must be concluded in the public interest. If the processes unravel there may be little hope of arresting the SABC’s long-term decline and marginalisation. And that will also be a problem for democracy. Through its radio and television offerings, the SABC has the widest media reach in the country.</p>
<p>With the rise in sponsored, commercial content and fake news globally and in South Africa, the country needs a professional, independent public broadcaster offering context, professional fact-checked news and a multitude of views.</p>
<p>The two critical parliamentary processes are the inquiry into the fitness of the SABC board to <a href="http://citizen.co.za/news/news-national/1401609/watch-parly-inquiry-sabc-board-debates-final-report/">fulfil its duties</a>. This is being overseen by an ad hoc committee specially set up in 2016. The other is the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communication’s appointment of an <a href="http://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/criteria-set-for-sabc-interim-board-nominees-7501311">interim board</a>.</p>
<p>The ad hoc has done admirable work. But the process of completing its task is being held up by bickering between the governing African National Congress and the main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance. It’s critical that this gets resolved. The work on appointing an interim board is ongoing but it too needs to be concluded urgently.</p>
<h2>The work of the ad hoc committee</h2>
<p>The ad hoc committee has hit a rocky patch. Members of the DA on the committee have <a href="http://www.enca.com/south-africa/da-mps-walk-out-of-sabc-inquiry">walked out</a> and haven’t endorsed a <a href="http://www.parliament.gov.za/Multimedia/misc/2017/Interim_Report_of_the_Ad_Hoc_Committee_on_the_SABC_Board_Inquiry/SABC_Ad_Hoc_Committee_Interim_Report_27_Jan_2017_adopted_published.pdf">draft report</a> produced by the remaining committee members. </p>
<p>Their complaints are that the report only contains findings and doesn’t include recommendations and that this has significantly watered down the power of the report. Also, in particular, they accuse ANC MPs of protecting Communications Minister Faith Muthambi by not including recommendations for her firing.</p>
<p>But MPs from the governing ANC argued that recommendations should come later after the committee had received further inputs from Muthambi as well as comments from other interested parties.</p>
<p>The ad hoc committee was set up in November 2016 in the wake of multiple crises at the SABC. Its brief was wide-ranging and included:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>looking into the financial status and sustainability of the SABC,</p></li>
<li><p>the corporation’s response to the Public Protector’s critical 2014 report <a href="http://www.pprotect.org/library/investigation_report/2013-14/WHEN%20GOVERNANCE%20FAILS%20REPORT%20EXEC%20SUMMARY.pdf">When Governance and Ethics Fail</a>, which followed her probe of the broadcaster</p></li>
<li><p>the SABC’s response to court judgments against it, and its response in particular to the <a href="http://ewn.co.za/2016/07/11/SABC-responds-to-Icasa-ruling-on-censorship">ruling</a> by the Independent Communication Authority of South Africa.</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Tough findings</h2>
<p>The committee did its work with what seemed to be an unprecedented level of cooperation among political parties in parliament. Some even went as far as to say parliament had at last found its backbone after years of weakly standing by as finances, governance and editorial principles crumbled at the SABC.</p>
<p>The broadcaster’s board and management <a href="http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/sabc-members-walks-out-of-parliament-inquiry-20161207">fought</a> against the process. They walked out of proceedings and refused to provide documents and then maliciously complied through sending hundreds of emails. But the committee stood strong.</p>
<p>It heard testimonies from a range of key stakeholders. These included the Public Protector and the Auditor General as well as NGOs and human rights organisations. It also interviewed former board members, former SABC employees and <a href="http://www.sabc.co.za/news/a/47a0a0004f4dd823a397f35d9cc72cdd/%E2%80%9CSABC-8%E2%80%9D-continue-testifying-before-Parliament-20161212">eight</a> journalists who had been fired for standing up to management against its illegal ban on showing footage of violent protests. </p>
<p>The committee’s subsequent draft report captured the hours of testimony and pointed to a number of deep structural challenges. It pointed to the conflict between the <a href="http://www.gov.za/sites/www.gov.za/files/a4-99.pdf">Broadcasting Act</a> and the <a href="http://www.gov.za/documents/companies-act">Companies Act</a>. It said that Muthambi had selectively used the Companies Act to give herself powers to fire board members. The report said that the SABC’s independence needs to be protected and that </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Broadcasting Act is undoubtedly specific to the SABC, and is therefore the primary law applicable to the public broadcaster.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It also highlighted irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure. It calculated that there had been irregular expenditure of R5.1bn and fruitless and wasteful expenditure of R92.5m. It also included a section on “suspicious transactions”.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154757/original/image-20170130-7685-1q72eas.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/154757/original/image-20170130-7685-1q72eas.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154757/original/image-20170130-7685-1q72eas.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154757/original/image-20170130-7685-1q72eas.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154757/original/image-20170130-7685-1q72eas.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154757/original/image-20170130-7685-1q72eas.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/154757/original/image-20170130-7685-1q72eas.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Communications Minister Faith Muthambi and former SABC COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">GCIS</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The report included a section on the SABC’s editorial policies, concluding that these had been passed without sufficient consultation. It also pointed to problems with their content, including the fact that they undermined the role of journalists by insisting that they refer all ‘controversial’ editorial decisions upwards to management.</p>
<p>The report highlighted the problematic role of <a href="http://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/sabc-inquiry-muthambi-crucified-in-draft-report-7530722">Minister Muthambi</a> and her tabling of the <a href="http://www.gov.za/documents/broadcasting-amendment-bill-b39-2015-5-dec-2015-0000">Broadcasting Amendment Bill, 2015</a> which calls for her to be given powers to appoint board members. The report stated that this showed the lengths that the minister has been prepared to go to “concentrate power in the ministry”. </p>
<p>It pointed to her illegal role in appointing Hlaudi Motsoeneng to the position of permanent Chief Operating Officer, despite the public protector’s findings that he lacked the necessary qualifications for the role.</p>
<h2>Next steps</h2>
<p>The ad hoc committee’s findings were powerful. It would have been better still if it had included recommendations in its draft report. But what is now critical is that the process isn’t scuppered. MPs need to work together to ensure a final report is delivered which contains strong recommendations. ANC MPs have promised to do so. This is a good start, but they need to be held strongly to account.</p>
<p>As far as the <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2017-01-24-sabc-interim-board-appointment-process-gets-underway/#.WI5TYRt95PY">interim board</a> is concerned, the portfolio committee is due to select one shortly. According to the Broadcasting Act it should be made up of five non-executive directors and three executive directors who will sit for no longer than six months. Its task is to implement the ad hoc committee’s recommendations that will be included in the final report.</p>
<p>What’s essential is that parliament selects a competent group of individuals, ready to roll up their sleeves. It’s essential that they have the required technical skills. But they also need to have political clout. They must be brave and resilient and have the guts to work against the SABC’s entrenched networks of power and corruption.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/72113/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kate Skinner received funding from the Open Society Foundation. She is affiliated with the SOS: Support Public Broadcasting Coalition. </span></em></p>It’s vital that the problems at the South African Broadcasting Corporation be fixed in the public interest and for democracy, given its wide media reach in the country.Kate Skinner, PhD student in Media Studies, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/642432016-08-22T14:54:04Z2016-08-22T14:54:04ZQuestions that need to be asked to save South Africa’s public broadcaster<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134931/original/image-20160822-18702-fp7ame.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Protesters decry the decision by the South African Broadcasting Corporation not to air scenes of violent protest.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Mike Hutchings</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The problems at South Africa’s public broadcaster have become legendary in the country. These range from serious mismanagement, to loss of editorial independence and poor financial management. </p>
<p>The problem is particularly serious because the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) remains the only source of information for <a href="http://www.saarf.co.za/saarf/newsreleases.asp">most South Africans</a>. But fixing the problem isn’t easy. This is because the country’s parliament, which has oversight, has been unable to impose its authority on decisions made by the SABC’s board, or on the minister in charge.</p>
<p>As a result the SABC has stumbled from one crisis to another. Its financial situation has become more <a href="http://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/stnews/investigations/2016/07/10/Cash-starved-SABC-wants-bank-loan-of-R1.5bn">precarious every year</a> and its ability to fulfil its mandate more tenuous.</p>
<p>There were high hopes that the SABC would become a true public broadcaster after the end of apartheid – an era when it was used ruthlessly as a propaganda machine. But after a <a href="http://www.nab.org.za/content/page/broadcast-industry">promising start</a>, with concerted efforts to turn the SABC into a true public broadcaster (that included a democratically elected board and strong public service orientated editorial policies) it soon became clear that there was ongoing interference from the governing African National Congress (ANC). A glaring example included the <a href="http://www.fxi.org.za/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=174">blacklisting</a> in 2006 of commentators critical of then president Thabo Mbeki.</p>
<h2>Parliament’s failure</h2>
<p>The South African Parliament has a <a href="http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2016-07-14-sabc-mess-now-in-parliaments-care.-dont-hold-your-breath./#.V7oefCh96hc">dismal track record</a> of sorting out the SABC’s problems. This goes back years.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.acts.co.za/broadcasting-act-1999/2_object_of_act">Broadcasting Act of 1999</a> gave the legislature significant oversight powers, including the power to appoint the SABC’s board and to hold it to account in terms of its financial and corporate plans. Parliament was also given the power to hold the SABC to account in terms of its <a href="http://www.sabc.co.za/wps/portal/SABC/SABCCHARTER">charter</a>. </p>
<p>But parliament’s portfolio committee has fallen victim to <a href="http://www.theafricareport.com/Southern-Africa/south-africa-anc-factionalism-battles-emerge-ahead-of-2016-polls.html">internal battles</a> within the ANC and has simply not performed. It has routinely abandoned its oversight role.</p>
<p>The hard questions that members of parliament have failed to ask range from issues of editorial integrity through to questions on finances, particularly linked to financial mismanagement.</p>
<p>The SABC is <a href="http://www.sabc.co.za/wps/wcm/connect/abcc2f8049f38beead0defa53d9712f0/ANNUAL+REPORT+2015+part+3.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=abcc2f8049f38beead0defa53d9712f0">financed</a> through a combination of advertising (about 80%) licence fees (about 18%) and government (2%). It differs from public broadcasters in other countries because it relies heavily on advertising. Generally they rely on approximately 60% public funding. </p>
<h2>Editorial principles</h2>
<p>The first set of hard questions MPs ought to have asked is around the SABC abandoning its editorial principles. For example, why did management issue the clearly illegal <a href="http://ewn.co.za/2016/05/27/SABC-will-no-longer-broadcast-footage-displaying-violent-protests">policy directive</a> to ban footage of violent protests, particularly during an election period? A number of violent service delivery protests broke out in the run-up to local government elections in August. The SABC claimed that showing footage of protests would encourage further violence.</p>
<p>Management should have been asked why it initially <a href="http://mg.co.za/article/2016-07-11-hlaudi-and-sabc-board-refuse-to-end-their-ban-on-airing-violent-protests-because-regulatory-body-icasa-is-not-a-court-of-law">defied</a> a ruling by the broadcast regulator that its ban was <a href="http://www.sabc.co.za/news/a/91c56f004d746c0499c0df4b5facb1b5/Icasa-orders-SABC-to-withdraw-its-decision-to-ban-violent-protests-20161107">illegal</a>. The SABC initially played for time, saying it would take the matter on review. It eventually said it would comply. </p>
<p>Finally, management should have been asked why it went ahead and <a href="https://www.enca.com/south-africa/dismissed-sabc-journalists-back-in-court-today">illegally</a> fired journalists for defying the ban. </p>
<p>There is every indication that the broadcaster’s management is still bent on continuing to show the government – and particularly President Jacob Zuma – in a good light. Management recently passed a set of <a href="http://www.soscoalition.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/SABC-Editorial-Policy.pdf">editorial policies</a> that make its intentions clear. </p>
<p>A planned <a href="http://www.bdlive.co.za/national/politics/2016/08/22/political-week-ahead-sabc-board-set-for-grilling-in-parliament">portfolio committee meeting</a> in August 2016 gives MPs a chance to ask these and additional questions.</p>
<p>For instance, they should ask why under the new policies the role of editor-in-chief has shifted from the chief executive to the chief operating officer, Hlaudi Motsoeneng. Motsoeneng is a highly controversial figure. He is accused of lying about his <a href="http://www.news24.com/Archives/City-Press/How-Hlaudi-Motsoeneng-lied-in-SABC-application-4-Es-and-an-F-in-matric-20150429">qualifications</a>, raising his own salary <a href="http://mg.co.za/article/2014-02-17-sabcs-motsoeneng-unlawfully-hiked-salary-finds-madonsela">illegally</a> and pushing for the SABC to play a propaganda role by, for example, calling for <a href="http://mg.co.za/article/2013-08-30-00-sabc-calls-for-70-happy-news/">70% “good news”</a>.</p>
<p>Finally, MPs need to ask some pointed questions about why the SABC has abandoned an open and transparent system of commissioning programmes that relied on “request for proposals”. Instead it has opted for a <a href="http://city-press.news24.com/News/hlaudi-fires-tv-boss-20160730-2">secretive</a> process that centres on Motsoeneng. It allows select producers to approach him directly, creating fertile ground for dodgy deals and corruption.</p>
<h2>Finances</h2>
<p>The second set of hard questions concerns the SABC’s finances. The broadcaster appears to have hit a cash flow problem and requires a major financial bail-out to continue operating.</p>
<p>Motsoeneng and the new acting CEO James Aguma have approached commercial banks for a <a href="http://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/stnews/investigations/2016/07/10/Cash-starved-SABC-wants-bank-loan-of-R1.5bn">R1.5bn loan</a> to plug a current expenditure shortfall. Without additional borrowing it could soon be unable to pay suppliers and salaries.</p>
<p>The key source of these problems appears to be <a href="http://www.financialmail.co.za/features/2016/07/15/sabc-in-financial-meltdown?platform=hootsuite">financial mismanagement</a>. </p>
<p>Other reasons include ballooning staff and consultant costs, fruitless and wasteful expenditure on legal fees and <a href="http://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/the-sunday-independent/20160717/281779923469622">golden handshakes to staff</a>. </p>
<p>The most recent allegation of mismanagement involves the <a href="http://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/stnews/2016/08/14/Gupta-pal-in-R380m-SABC-licence-fee-deal">awarding of a contract</a> to collect unpaid licence fees. Non-pensioner adults are expected to pay an annual fee of <a href="http://www.sabc.co.za/wps/portal/SABC/tvlicquestionanswer">R265</a>. The contract was allegedly awarded to a politically connected company without going out to tender.</p>
<p>Finally, Aguma reportedly plans to <a href="http://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/stnews/2016/08/21/Now-SABC-boss-seeks-bonus-for-Hlaudi">pay Motsoeneng a bonus</a> for a questionable deal he signed with MultiChoice, the subscription television service, in 2013. </p>
<p>In terms of the deal, it was agreed that the SABC would supply MultiChoice’s DSTV platform with a 24 hour news channel, an entertainment channel and access to the SABC’s archives. MultiChoice was to pay R570m for a five year contract. </p>
<p>Industry insiders have argued that the SABC was hugely underpaid. Civil society organisations have instituted legal action against the SABC, <a href="http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2015-10-06-sabc-multichoice-deal-is-effectively-a-merger/#.V7onjCh96hc">arguing</a> that selling off its archives is equivalent to selling off the family silver. </p>
<p>Parliament needs to ask these hard questions and ensure rigorous follow-up on all the promises the broadcaster makes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64243/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kate Skinner received funding from the Open Society Foundation. She is affiliated with SOS: Support Public Broadcasting and the Right2Know Campaign. </span></em></p>There were high hopes that the SABC would become a true public broadcaster after the end of apartheid when it was used ruthlessly as a propaganda machine. But those hopes have since been dashed.Kate Skinner, PhD student in Media Studies, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.