From Hlaudi's salary to criminal records: 5 things you need to know about the SABC annual report

The SABC dropped a bombshell late last night with its 2015/2016 annual report‚ and it's a big deal.

In Cape Town today‚ the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) is taking the SABC's executives to task as they ask the difficult questions.

Here are five things you need to know:

1. Hlaudi's salary:

According to the financial statements‚ former chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng earned R4.1 million. Broken down, this is a R2.5 million basic salary‚ a 13th cheque of R213,000‚ expenses and other allowances of R945 000 and an employer's contribution to medical aid and pension funds of R485 000.

• Scopa proposes Hawks probe SABC's irregular R5.1bnThe Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) has put forward a proposal to SABC group executives that the Hawks launch a forensic investigation into the affairs of the beleaguered state broadcaster. 

2. Irregular spending:

The auditor general found a total of R5.1-billion in irregular‚ wasteful and fruitless expenditure. Yes‚ R5.1 billion. It's all very complicated‚ but it's an accumulation of money spent without following correct policies and procedures in 2015 and 2016.

Here's a breakdown of how that money was spent:

* Payments without a contract in place – R40.9m (compared to R13.4m in 2015);

* Procurement processes not followed – R16.2m (down from R62.9m last year);

* No original tax certificate at date of award – R142.3m (down from R308.9m in 2015)‚ and;

* Inadequate monitoring of contracts/split orders – R225.9m (up from just R822 000 in 2015).

• R5.1bn irregular SABC expenditure 'taken seriously' – acting CEO AgumaActing SABC CEO James Aguma has told parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts that the issue of R5.1-billion in irregular expenditure incurred by the state broadcaster was being taken “extremely seriously”. 

3. Losing it:

The SABC group filed a total loss of R411.6 million by the end of March 2016‚ compared with a loss of R131.3 million for the same period the previous year.

4. Big bucks:

The largest amount listed under expenditures is for “employee and directors’ compensation and benefit expenses”, which totalled R3.2 billion out of a total revenue of R7.9 billion. It cost the SABC more than R1 billion to collect this revenue.

• Interim board to run SABC is beginning to take shapeTwo former newspaper editors and a former soapie actress have been nominated to serve on the SABC's interim board, which will be tasked for the next six months with fixing the ailing broadcaster. 

5. Criminals at the SABC?:

According to MPs who were asking some difficult questions of the SABC executives‚ the auditor general report found the SABC had no idea which of its employees had criminal records. Acting CEO James Aguma responded to questions by saying he would have to “get a full report from the human resources department on that”.