With SABC board chair Bongumusa Makhathini telling thethat staff salaries may not be payable at the end of June, the broadcaster is reported to be facing a complete “communication blackout” imminently if its financial situation does not improve.
In publicly expressing the SABC’s challenges in such apocalyptic terms, the SABC board may be hoping to force the hand of National Treasury – which has since March 2019 been considering an application from the broadcaster for a R3.2-billion guarantee to enable it to raise funds from commercial banks.
Eskom, as ever, is a different story – due to the dependence of the wider South African economy on the electricity provider’s fortunes. The SABC’s current situation is typical of many. The attempt to sweep clean after the years of State Capture is proving both long-winded and costly: thereports that Special Investigating Unit investigations into irregular tenders and salary awards have already built in a civil litigation bill of more than R366-million.