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Minister lifts lid on ad spend of her dept, entities

Simnikiwe Mzekandaba
By Simnikiwe Mzekandaba
Johannesburg, 13 Dec 2019

Advertising spend by the ICT ministries was over R13 million during the past three financial years.

The departments in the spotlight are telecommunications and postal services, and communications, which now function as a unified Department of Communications and Digital Technologies,headed by minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams.

Under the communications department, the ministry oversaw the following state-owned entities: the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) and Film and Publication Board (FPB).

In terms of telecoms and postal services, it was Broadband Infraco (BBI), Sentech, State IT Agency (SITA), Universal Service and Access Agency of SA (USAASA), National Electronic Media Institute of SA (NEMISA), ZA Domain Name Authority (ZADNA) and the South African Post Office (SAPO).

In a written response to questions posed in Parliament by the EFF’s Lehlohonolo Goodwill Mokoena, Ndabeni-Abrahams gave a blow-by-blow account of how much the departments and state-owned entities reporting to her have spent on ads on platforms like radio and print, and ownership thereof.

In her reply, the minister revealed advertising spend by the telecommunications and postal services department cost R7.1 million between 2016 and 2019. On the other hand, the communications department’s advertising totalled R6.2 million over the same period.

Despite cash constraints, the SABC is one of the big spenders, with the entity’s advertising spend totalling R69.7 million for the said financial years.

In October, Ndabeni-Abrahams announced the SABC will receive a bailout of R3.2 billion from National Treasury. The minister said R2.1 billion would initially be transferred to the public broadcaster, with the remaining R1.1 billion to be awarded once all the bailout conditions were met.

Breakdown of SABC’s advertising fees from 2016:

In her reply, Ndabeni-Abrahams said: “The SABC’s media buying and advertising were done through a media buying agency, ‘The Media Shop’. The Media Shop was appointed in 2010 through a procurement process. SABC does not negotiate directly with media owners but this is done via the agency The Media Shop. The Media Shop is a level 1 contributor.”

In terms of other entities like the FPB and ICASA, spending fees reached R2.2 million and R8.9 million respectively for the period under review, according to the minister’s response.

Breakdown of advertising costs of the telecoms and postal services’ entities from 2016: