SABC begs for leniency

THE SABC has asked the government to relax the stringent conditions attached to its R1.4-billion loan guarantee.

This emerged in parliament yesterday during a briefing on the SABC's performance against the conditions of the government guarantee.

The troubled public broadcaster got a shot in the arm from the Treasury when it faced a cash crisis in 2009 after Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan approved its application for a R1.47-billion loan guarantee.

But there are stringent performance-based conditions in place.

Among the tough conditions is that the SABC should raise advertising revenue by R535-million next year and sponsorship revenue by R128-million during the same period.

The state-owned media enterprise was also instructed to trim its R1.5-billion salary bill and increase net profits.

Though some of the conditions have been met, the SABC has failed to cut the salary bill and raise its revenue.

A task team comprising high-ranking officials from the departments of Communications, Treasury and the SABC yesterday told the portfolio committee on communications that the broadcaster was projecting a net loss of R92-million for the financial year ending in March.

The team also reported that the payments of salaries and other employee benefits would cost R114-million more than it was budgeted for this year.