All government departments have been instructed to urgently pay their outstanding TV licence bills and settle their debt to the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC).
This instruction comes from the very top of South Africa’s leadership, President Cyril Ramaphosa who noted this through his spokesperson Vincent Magwenya.
Government must enable the public broadcaster to fulfil its duties, Magwenya explained.
It is estimated that national and provincial governments and municipalities owe the SABC almost R35 million in unpaid TV licence fees.
“The SABC is an important institution of our democracy. It needs all the funding that is required in order for it to fulfil its primary constitutional duty,” he added.
Magwenya told the SABC that Ramaphosa would encourage and make a call to all departments that owe the SABC licence fees to immediately settle those fees.
“We want to have an SABC that remains viable and continues to serve the public. Therefore, it is important that the government enables the SABC to fulfil its duties.”
A clean audit - A first
Last month, the SABC said it had, for the first since 2009, obtained an unqualified audit opinion.
An unqualified audit opinion means that the auditors found the financial statements to be fairly presented and in accordance with the applicable financial reporting framework.
The SABC said that the pleasing results were due to more focus being placed on their financial disciplines and making an effort to institutionalise good governance throughout the business.
“I am proud that the SABC has achieved another significant milestone on our journey of recovery, renewal and growth,” Nomsa Chabeli, the SABC’s Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) noted.
“Our unqualified audit opinion follows a number of recent achievements, including our much-lauded election coverage, the relaunch and rapid audience growth of our SABC+ streaming platform, as well as our content partnerships with leading global and local media houses,” Chabeli added.
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