South Africa: SABC ‘technically insolvent’
August 30, 2019
By Chris Forrester
South Africa’s public broadcaster SABC is technically insolvent, according to its CFO Yolande van Biljon.
Reportedly some SABC suppliers ae unwilling to take up new contracts because of long delays in receiving payment for work done.
The CFO admitted the problems, saying: “There are instances where we are unable to honour payments and even unable to adhere to committed contracts, which means we often need to renegotiate because we have been unable to meet the requirements.”
“Currently, SABC is technically insolvent. We are also under tremendous strain towards being factually insolvent as a result of our liquidity issues. Cash is depleted and the trade and other payables amount to R1.8-billion [€0.11bn] as at June 2019.
“There are a number of significant suppliers that make this up, notably [transmission company] Sentech (R554-million), our signal distribution provider, as well as SuperSport, Samro and various other content providers (amounting to R174-million). We have monthly engagements with all these parties,” she said.
The financial problems have meant a freeze on hiring since September 2018.