Bop Broadcasting is forging ahead with new programmes despite the prospect of losing its government funding, reports Jacquie Golding-Duffy
Bophuthatswana Broadcasting Corporation (BopBC) is digging in its heels against integration with the SABC, despite having only two months before government funding is cut-off. Representative of the North-West premier Willie Modise said BopBC were intending to hold on for `at least another two years’. Modise said Premier Popo Molofe and BopBC were `looking at a number of options from the private sector to retain its viability’, and that the premier was `keen for regional
Modise said the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) would hammer out acceptable ways for the station to continue operating independently, while BopBC would find ways of funding itself. Molefe’s personal assistant, Keith Khoza, confirmed that BopBC was exploring `viable economic options’, adding that the premier’s concerns about integration were based on possible job losses suffered by BopBC workers. The provincial government was, for the moment, funding BopBC to tune of R93-million a year. Whether the funding would continue in the coming financial year is not clear. Acting MEC for broadcasting and media in the province, Dr Molefe Sefularo, last week said it would not be easy to disband Bop TV as it was the only other major player in television with the SABC. Former M-Net corporate affairs manager, Cawe Mahlati, who is BopBC’s acting chief executive officer, was appointed by Sefularo. but it is unclear if her mandate was to slowly wind-down the station’s operations, to establish it as a competitor to the SABC, or to make it a strong independent provincial broadcaster. Mahlati’s six-month contract is supposed to finish by the end of March, when BopBC will supposedly integrate with the SABC. Disgruntled staff members at Bop TV and radio are under the impression BopBC is planning to close down and join forces with the SABC. But a 10-day overseas trip by Mahlati and others to allegedly buy new programmes has indicated to staffers the corporation has other plans. In a statement sent to the Mail & Guardian, disgruntled BopBC workers said they were unsure of their jobs because they were being `kept in the dark’ by Mahlati, who single-handedly made decisions relating to the station.
Because of alleged ill-treatment by BopBC executives, non-retrenched workers have formed a committee to represent them in talks with management. In a memorandum submitted to Mahlati and Sefularo, workers said `certain’ preparations by BopBC `clearly indicated’ the station was intent on forging ahead with provincial broadcasting in one form or another. The statement said the station was, `at considerable expense’ relaunching itself, with new logos, new programmes for which sets had to be built, new employees, and a bid to have its signal extended. BopBC last month employed journalists, Francis Majola and Sefako Nyaka as head of radio and television news respectively. A Bop TV executive producer who refused to be named for fear of losing his job said many people had resigned because they were disillusioned with the new management. Among the resignations were two female deejays, two cameramen and an executive producer. Mahlati and Sefularo refused to comment on any of the allegations despite repeated requests from M&G. Posts, Telecommunications and Broadcasting Minister Pallo Jordan said although the ministry hoped BopBC would choose to come aboard in the integration process, it could `not coerce nor force’ BopBC to do anything it did not want to do. Jordan said if tax-payers felt their money was being misused, in sustaining the station, they could express their opinion on the matter through the ballot box. The South African Foreign Affairs Ministry used to give R105-million to BopBC during the Lucas Mangope era. SABC representative Ken Modise said the corporation was keen to integrate with broadcasters across the country, but the onus was on the IBA to resolve the issue with
Mahlati is alleged to have said that she would take advantage of the current loopholes regarding integration in the IBA’s Triple Inquiry report, until parliament’s select committee gets the recommendations legislated. The IBA in its Triple Inquiry report to parliament recommended that the SABC and TBVC states integrate into a single national public broadcaster. `We recommended that an interim co-ordinating body be established,’ the IBA said, adding that the North-West government had confirmed that they favoured intergration and `that no major commitments with long term implications will be entered into’.