The IBA is hearing bids for SABC radio stations, and it’s not just cash that counts – political correctness does too. Katy Bauer reports
AT this week’s Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) hearings in Johannesburg, everybody wanted to appear historically disadvantaged. However, at least some of their dreams of tragic heroism were a little far-fetched.
Three consortiums bidding for Highveld Stereo, the plumpest slice of regional radio currently being auctioned by the SABC, were throwing a lot of cash around. We’re talking big bucks here: hundereds of millions of rands, powerful businessmen, well- rehearsed presentations and ruthless attempts to discredit the competition were all part of the game.
The snarling bidders were given one day each to astonish the IBA decision-makers. Everyone put their best foot forward and hopscotched as daintily as they could around their inquisitors. Their main objective for six hours each was to appear to the great and good councillors like well-balanced angels.
Their manners were impeccable, their attitudes reverent and their tastes in suits said as much about them as their bids: David Blood Associates,R60-million, petrol blue polyester mix; Worldwide Consortium, R130-million, black mandarin collared cotton; Newshelf 63, R320-million, pinstripe double-breasted wool.
For the bidders, raising huge amounts of cash was one thing. Meeting an array of politically correct criteria was another. The main cause for panic was undoubtedly the IBA’s dreaded ”suggestions” regarding the ”historically disadvantaged”. The HD catchphrase became the string of rainbow coloured fairy lights that strung together every proposal. For black entrepreneurs, historical disadvantage was a Godsend. For those with the money, historical disadvantage was a pain in the butt. (Super-rich Primedia 40% shareholders of Newshelf and 100% financers of the R320-million bid, were entering the arena of democratic privatisation for the second time in as many weeks and they looked frazzled by the process.)
The IBA criteria made creating the perfect applicant an excruciating exercise in super-slick casting for all bidders and to this end extraordinary consortiums were formed. Dozens of historically advantaged men leapt into bed with anyone black, left-wing or female. Black-owned Rainbow Investments were given a 25 % shareholding in the David Blood bid free of charge. Black-comprised Zerilda Investment has a 60% shareholding in the Newshelf bid. This is not a gift. Primedia will loan their partners the bulk of their capital requirement at a rate above prime.
Blood’s offer to his black partners would have looked generous by comparison if only he had any money. Unfortunately, what Blood thought was a guaranteed loan of R60-million from Absa turned out to be nothing more than a conditional declaration of intent fom Messrs Hercules du Preez and Henk van der Merwe at the bank. They will guarantee the loan only once Blood has secured ownership of Highveld.
Worldwide Consortium was the only Highveld bidder that could boast proportionate investment representation with no share crossover.
The straining to fulfil the the IBA criteria had been stressful for the bidders, but facing the razor sharp IBA panel seemed worse. The first to meet the shredder was the David Blood consortium … well, just David Blood really. The scene was a sorry one. A couple of opposition players wafted through the auditorium early in the day, but soon left. Fortunately, the remainder of his audience, comprising a few tired journalists and a one-legged Smal Street wanderer, was seated behind him. However, Blood’s view of a twitchy John Matisonn, deadpan Dr Sibeletso Mokone-Matabane, ratty Peter De Klerk and astonished Lyndall Shope-Mafole was unobstructed.
None of Blood’s black partners turned up and he didn’t have R60-million, but his main problem seemed to be an inability to fill out the application form correctly. His proposed station was in fact ”music driven” rather than ”full service”, his consortium’s legal status was questionable and for anything he wasn’t sure of, he simply left a blank.
The Worldwide Consortium didn’t leave any blanks. When they had finally seated their panel of six and three rows of spectating lawyers and investors, what faced the IBA looked formidable. Welcome Msomi, Michael Markovitz, Joe Makobe, Phutuma Nhleko, Rina Broomberg, Tuli Zuma. Mostly black, mostly male, sometimes hip.
The rest of the auditorium swelled with Newshelf opposition. (Blood did not attend.) Stan Katz of Primedia/Newshelf looking very rich, strode in and grinned smugly at the Worldwide Consortium. David Dison representing Worldwide looking like Stan Katz the younger, grinned back.
Testosterone – the kind with money – clogged the air. There was much cocky, sumo-like psyching out from both sides, and the contact sport of handshaking was rife. The Worldwide panel, deprived of eye-contact with Newshelf, looked like they were about to don New Zealand rugby shirts and start puffing at John Matisonn instead.
Suddenly there was a flash of light as an overhead projector was flicked on. The Worldwide Consortium presentation was about to begin.
There were pie charts and breakdowns and bullet points of every description.
Worldwide had all the right stuff money, lots of non-tokenist historically disadvantaged investors, struggle backgrounds, solid businessmen and Welcome Msomi, whose light, anecdotal presentation even softened Sebiletso’s stare somewhat.
The lone female seat was filled by Rina Broomberg. Although only employed by Worldwide as a consultant at present, Broomberg conducted a lengthly presentation which seemed to indicate that she may end up running the station single-handed. Her claims of expertise in the fields of training, management, programming and social work paled only next to her ability to spot radio talent from a distance of 30 paces. (A veteran of 702, Broomberg listed Stan Katz among her recruitment successes.)
Worldwide also had Michael Markovitz and David Dison in their corner. Even Newshelf’s objections which were raised at the end of the Worldwide punt were laughed off. All Worldwide’s ducks were in a row, all their transparencies were in order, but when it came to question time, the panelists began to squirm.
Democracy is not always a teddy bear and IBA councillors don’t clap after neat presentations. Instead they pick arguments apart and spot contradictions as easily as if they had red flags poking out of them.
They threw out several seemingly simple questions about sexism and programming that froze the panel. Broomberg’s view did not seem to satisfy the council on gender issues and the affable Mr Msomi was caught so off-guard by the aggressive questioning regarding content, that he nervously declared that all the songs to be aired on the station would be sung in English perhaps even the French ones.
After lunch the Worldwide panel were more composed. In fact Matisson’s possibly ambiguous reasons for asking why Worldwide thought the IBA should even consider a bid R190-million less than Newshelf’s far from unsettling the panel, gave Markovitz an opportunity to hold the moral highground for several minutes on what he believed the IBA was there to do.
Newshelf’s hearing started 30 minutes late. The foyer thronged with Primedia/Newshelf supporters. Worldwide was present but not overbearingly so and David Blood was standing around, being ignored by the big boys. Apart from the usual male component, there was also a scattering of pretty young ladies in suits and nail polish. As they had not appeared before, it can be assumed they were part of the Newshelf camp.
By the time the hearing began, the auditorium had been transformed into corporate heaven. Newshelf/Primedia family friends and loyal employees filled virtually every seat in the room. Archangel Katz looked as pleased as punch, and humbly took his seat near the edge of the bidder’s table. The Newshelf Chair was filled by labour lawyer Kuben Pillay.
Not to be outdone by Worldwide, Newshelf’s presentation was supported by computer generated images that flashed and shifted and boasted a team of 17 at the bidders’ table, nearly as black as Worldwide’s panel, with Albert Luthuli’s granddaughter Nomhle Gcabashe possibly tipping the scales of political correctness in their favour. They were showing off a bit, but they did look impressive in a corporate sort of way. The presentation was mostly tedious and the rhetoric was embarrassing but when it was Worldwide’s turn to lodge their objections, ennui was not their beef.
Worldwide lawyer Derek Rabin voiced a cluster of objections which seemed to open a can of worms so foul that even Newshelf winced for a while. Worldwide scrutiny of Newshelf’s shareholder’s agreement which had only reluctantly been made public on August 23 exposed an alarming degree of non-democratic control over just about every aspect of Newshelf by Primedia.
Suddenly all Newshelf’s silver clouds appeared to have charcoal linings. If the objections could be sustained the IBA would be hard pressed to grant Highveld to Newshelf, without making a mockery of themselves, the Act, the new South African way.
Katz pulled at his chin, the Newshelf chair mumbled to colleagues either side of him, and the Primedia lawyer fumbled nervously with a clumsy hand-held microphone before deferring back to the chair, without doing anything but giggling. ”Er …” stammered Pillay, ”Could we break for lunch now?” A roar of laughter went up from the audience, and lunch started 10 minutes early.
At 2pm a chortling Worldwide contingent took their seats as did a shell-shocked Newshelf. It was now the IBA’s turn to winkle out the truth. Lyndall Shope-Mafole was especially inquisitive and Primedia initially stumbled through most of their answers on labour, training and profits.
But somehow, by the end of the gruelling session, they had largely managed to escape the web of horrors which their own documentation had spun for them and even a very nervous Chris Gibbons (Primedia director) looked slightly less in need of a Rennie than he had done an hour earlier.
The IBA councillors are no fools. A nation’s desire for diversified airwaves ownership lies in capable hands. Theoretically, all three bidders stand a chance of winning Highveld, but if it goes to David Blood, black listeners will probably number 0 within a week and news time in minutes per day will total 5. A Worldwide win might have Rina Broomberg running everything and possibly trying to hire Stan Katz. And should Newshelf get it, judging by their labour- loving presentation, then the cleaning lady will be in charge and gum-boot dancing at tea-time willl be compulsory subject to approval by Primedia of course.