Ferial Haffajee
TopSport chief executive officer Edward Griffiths has landed a cushy agreement with the SABC which would see him working in South Africa for one week a month.
The SABC has met negotiators who want to buy TopSport – its basket of television sports programmes – which is about to make a profit for the first time ever.
TopSport could make millions of rands for the broadcaster, but many believe that it has national obligations, which include broadcasting the World Cup, the Olympics and other sporting highlights.
Griffiths this week confirmed the talks which he described as “embryonic”.
He added: “A proposal’s been made to TopSport, but nothing’s been decided at all. Any sale would be subject to a considerable process of consultation.” Any change would need to be negotiated with government, trade unions and staff.
Griffiths this week rejected rumours that he was part of the consortium which had made the buy-out proposal.
His contract, which expires at the end of September, has been renewed for between three and six months. It is a cushy renewal which provides that he will work for one week a month in South Africa and spend the rest of the time in the United Kingdom where his family is already living.
“It’s like running TopSport by remote control,” said a producer. Griffiths says the SABC is not footing the bill for his frequent flying.
SABC representative Enoch Sithole said the arrangement would only go on for as long as it took to find a new leader for the sports division. On the sale, he said, “It’s out of the question. We did not reject it out of hand, but there are many factors which need to be taken into account.”
Sithole says most TopSport programmes had already been farmed out to independent production houses. “So what are they going to be buying?”