The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) paid Leadership magazine about R123Â 000 for a cover story featuring its chief executive, Dali Mpofu, in the June issue, according to Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri.
In a written reply to a question in the National Assembly by Ryan Coetzee of the Democratic Alliance, Matsepe-Casaburri said the money came out of the SABC’s corporate marketing and public, international and regulatory affairs budgets.
Authorisation came from Phumelele Ntombela-Nzimande, group executive for public, international and regulatory affairs.
The article had provided the SABC an opportunity to further communicate the new corporate strategy of ”total citizen empowerment” and to focus on the new vision the organisation had recently adopted, she said.
”The article was not personal publicity for … Mpofu. The only question that focuses on him as an individual was the first question in the article and presumably it was done to give readers, who might not be familiar with advocate Mpofu, an opportunity to know the person who is at the helm of an important public institution such as SABC.
”This is normal in organisational communication and does not amount to personal publicity.”
Matsepe-Casaburri said the magazine had approached the SABC to do a profile on the new corporate strategy and Mpofu as chief executive.
A decision was taken to accept the offer of the magazine, as it was one of many methods that the SABC had identified as a vehicle to bring corporate strategy and vision of the SABC to the public, she said. — Sapa