Parliament has delivered a scathing indictment against the South African Broadcasting Corporation's (SABC) board yesterday, saying “...there is not much room for optimism about the affairs of the corporation”.
The board was supposed to deliver its annual report presentation, a report on the progress of the turnaround strategy and progress by the board itself.
However, only the annual report presentation was successfully completed by SABC action group CEO Robin Nicholson, before Parliamentarians of all parties became visibly annoyed as certain documents that were being presented had not been delivered to them in time so they could formulate questions.
At the end of a marathon six-hour session, the Portfolio Committee on Communications adjourned the meeting for 45 minutes to caucus a joint party resolution that is in effect a censure of the SABC board. This is a second such chastisement issued by the committee in less than a week, with the Department of Communications (the SABC's shareholder representative) receiving one last Thursday.
“In essence, the committee is of the view that the board has failed to provide coherent leadership and to ensure proper corporate governance over the SABC,” the resolution states.
The committee also noted, with concern, the emphasis contained in the Independent Auditor's report of non-compliance with the Public Finance Management Act, National Treasury regulations and the Broadcasting Act. Of particular concern is the breach of relevant procurement processes.
The MPs were also horrified to hear that the board had only had one formal meeting so far this year, when, in fact, they were supposed to have one every quarter.
Lax attitude
SABC chairman Ben Ngubane told the committee that he had informed them of the board's “dysfunctionality” and had asked for assistance with an investigation.
Communications committee chairman Ismail Vadi, however, dismissed that comment and said the committee held the entire board collectively responsible.
Democratic Alliance shadow communications minister Natasha Michael described the SABC board's behaviour as lax.
“This echoes the lax attitude of the last SABC board towards financial prudence and good governance, which resulted in losses of close to R1 billion at the end of 2009,” she said.
Michael pointed out that the board and the executive management of the SABC also failed to submit a six-month financial review of the public broadcaster's performance as required by Parliament.
“The chairperson of the board and the executive management have spent the last 12 months squabbling instead of performing the mandate they were given to bring the SABC out of the red,” she said.
During his presentation, Nicholson pointed out that the SABC had managed to make a small operating profit during the last quarter, and that it had only used less than half of the R1 billion government guarantee loan.
“We have instituted tighter cost controls and management and this is helping,” he said.
However, he pointed out that advertising revenue was still falling as advertisers changed their mix and this had hit the radio services hard.
As part of the communications committee's resolution, the SABC board was told to approve a schedule of board meetings between now and December 2011, and that a turnaround strategy had to be tabled by 10 November this year. In addition, the policy of retention bonuses for staff members is to be reviewed, and a report on the performance review of the board must also be tabled by 10 November.
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