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SABC gets government bail out

October 8, 2019

By Chris Forrester

South Africa’s government was due to make a special payment to the nation’s SABC public broadcaster on October 7th.

The initial payment was expected to be a massive Rand 2.1 billion (about €126bn) in order to allay anxieties from staff and suppliers.

There will be another R1.1 billion paid when SABC meets three remaining key demands from the government. The government issued a set of preconditions for the cash injection in June, which included having a viable ‘turn around’ strategy.

As at June SABC reportedly owed almost R2 billion, and was struggling to pay salaries and failing to meet ‘health & safety’ requirements.

The SABC’s position is mainly driven by staff costs which constitute on average 40 per cent of total expenditure.

Categories: Articles, Broadcast, Funding