The national Treasury has written to express reservations about providing the beleaguered SABC with a guarantee for R1,8-billion to address the public broadcaster’s financial crisis.
While the short-term bail-out from government had been widely anticipated, a letter sent this week from South Africa’s Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan to the Minister of Communications Siphiwe Nyanda dampened expectations.
In the letter Gordhan explained that while there was a willingness to support the SABC, it needed to sort out its own current shortfalls, the Mail & Guardian has learned.
The letter from Gordhan was copied to the chairperson of the interim SABC board Irene Charnley, who could not immediately be reached for comment.
A request to the Treasury for a guarantee for R1,4-billion was made in July by the SABC, but the figure was revised to R1,8-billion in October as projected costs soared.
However the SABC has been given stopgap funding as it is to receive R200-million from the government to meet its short-term liquidity requirements.
The announcement was made by Gordhan in his medium-term budget speech this week.
Earlier this year the SABC and the Department of Communications met the Treasury, seeking financial assistance or guarantees to help it survive the crisis.
Gab Mampone, the acting chief executive at the SABC, has attributed the shortfall to a drop in income from advertising and the rising costs of broadcasting.
Should the SABC fail to secure the funding, and if the heavy losses continued each month, the organisation would require R6-billion from the government over the next five years if the SABC was expected to carry out its mandate as a public broadcaster, he said in May.
‘We have a shortfall every month, and have had to reprioritise, making cutbacks throughout the organisation,†said Mampone. ‘Still this is not sustainable — we need a bail-out.â€
But everybody is tight-lipped around the the bail-out from the treasury that has so far failed to materialise.
‘Obviously you will know we are not in a position to discuss any of our interactions with government, either Treasury or the department of communications on this issue,†said SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago. ‘We have always said that any engagement we have with the shareholder or government department on this issue is confidential.â€
Thoraya Pandy, spokesperson for the Treasury, would also not elaborate and said she could not comment.
The spokesperson for Nyanda, Tiyane Rikotso, said he understood that negotiations with the Treasury were ‘ongoingâ€.