Concerns are mounting that South Africa’s public broadcaster is lurching closer to a catastrophic collapse as it continues to operate without a board amid a period of financial instability.

Although public pressure groups warned in June that the process to select and appoint a new board at the South African Broadcasting Corporation should begin, the country’s parliament committee failed to begin the process in a timely manner, and the SABC board’s five-year term expired on Oct. 15.

The parliament’s portfolio committee on communications is now trying to shift the blame to the country’s State Security Agency (SSA) for allegedly failing to vet the 34 shortlisted candidates fast enough. The committee only kickstarted candidate interviews in mid-September.

Once shortlisted candidates are vetted, more time will elapse as political parties spar over which 12 names to recommend as the new board. The final decision will be made by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Justice Molafo, a spokesperson for the parliament committee, told Variety that security vetting of the shortlisted names hadn’t been completed as of Sept. 27.

“There were delays from the SSA, so the committee thought it was appropriate to wait until the SSA had finished their vetting. The process has been a bit slow but out of the 34 candidates, 20 have been vetted now. The committee is waiting for 14 names.”

An SABC spokesperson told Variety on Friday that “the appointment of SABC board members is a parliamentary process and, as such, the SABC will await finalization of this process.

“The three executive directors of the SABC have always ensured that the daily operations of the public service broadcaster are successfully executed and the public is served as per the public service mandate,” said the spokesperson.

She did not respond to Variety’s questions about whether a board-less broadcaster is perceived as a concern, whether execs have been told when a new board will be in place, or the possible timeframe for the appointments.

A huge danger

Uyanda Siyotula, national coordinator of the SOS Coalition public broadcasting lobby group, said the board-less SABC faces “uncertainty and potential destabilization.”

The group warns that the delay in appointing a SABC board, which goes against the country’s broadcasting act, “stalls the implementation of turnaround strategies that would benefit the broadcaster.”

The SOS Coalition is adamant that “suggestions” that the broadcaster’s CEO, COO and CFO act on behalf of the board until one has been appointed, are prohibited from happening. “The executives will be [accountable] to themselves and be granted board powers,” said Siyotula, which is unconstitutional.

William Bird, director of Media Monitoring Africa (MMA), told Variety on Friday that it’s “embarrassing for the SABC to not have a board”.

“The problem that the SABC is board-less is firmly, squarely, exclusively before the door of parliament — [it’s an] abject, abysmal failure. Yet again, parliament has let the people of South Africa down and [is risking] plunging another public institution into deep crisis — and all entirely avoidable.”

Bird said “what should happen is that parliament’s committee should gather today, work through the night if necessary, have their discussions, and come out with their selected, recommended 12 and send that to the president.

“This absolute codswallop that they have to wait for a security agency and leave the blame at SSA’s door is astonishing,” said Bird. “There’s no provision for it in the broadcasting act.”

Bird also cautioned against suggestions of an “interim board” for the SABC. “Extraordinary and extreme pressure are being placed on the SABC’s senior executives and that is just grossly and spectacularly unfair, especially when it’s completely avoidable,” he said.

Massive challenges continue

Without a board in place, the struggling SABC, Africa’s largest public broadcaster, has to contend with massive ongoing challenges.

In its latest 2021/2022 financial earnings, the broadcaster reported a net loss of R201 million ($10.9 million) as it continues to waste millions in write-offs on buying content it fails to air before licensing rights expire. The country’s auditor-general warned of a possible SABC collapse and raised concerns about the broadcaster as a running concern.

Meanwhile, only 18% of registered SABC TV license holders still pay the annual fee out of the TV households the broadcaster knows of. There are millions more who can’t be traced by the broadcaster, and are likely watching without a license.

Over the last 18 months, SABC has also been facing a drastic ratings slide in the linear viewership of its three terrestrial TV channels — SABC1, SABC2 and SABC3 — as the government switched off analogue transmitters without the proper digital migration of television households.

Producers who aren’t getting paid on time by SABC for delivery of their shows have also increasingly begun moving over to pay-TV rival MultiChoice and M-Net, as well as commercial free-to-air challenger e.tv, which is basking in a ratings surge.

Meanwhile, streamers like Netflix are drastically upping their local content slate, with producers saying they feel more respected in the commissioning and creative process. It comes as SABC execs are currently busy with a multi-city roadshow to try and allay fears within the production community, and win back trust from the country’s content creators.

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