SA Broadcasting Corporation Annual Report; National Task Team on SA Broadcast Content & Languages

Meeting report

COMMUNICATIONS PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
5 November 2004
SOUTH AFRICAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION ANNUAL REPORT; NATIONAL TASK TEAM ON SA BROADCAST CONTENT AND LANGUAGES

Chairperson

SABC Annual Results Presentation 2004
National Summit on Content and Language Report

Broadcasting Complaints Commission website
SABC website

SUMMARY
The Committee heard reports form the SABC and the National Summit on Content and Language, both reports had put emphasis on providing access to languages other than English. Members concerns included the establishment of in house Ombudsman, the compliance with PFMA. Certain parts of the of the country were not covered by the SABC. On the Language Content briefing members had agreed with the recommendation and suggested the utilisation of private capital as funding.

MINUTES
South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) Annual Report
Mr Eddie Funde, Chairperson of the SABC Board, reported to the Committee that the Corporation had a successful year. They had covered the 2004 Elections, the Decade of Democracy Celebrations, the Pan African Parliament, the South Africa 2010 World Cup bid and the 2004 Olympics. The Chair highlighted SABC's goals which included ensuring compelling and professional programming and full regulatory compliance.

Mr Peter Matlare, Group Chief Executive Officer, reported on SABC's strategy. This included amongst others the focus on local content and investment in technology. The management of the broadcaster had reviewed its performance focussing on universal service access, growth and financial health. The Broadcaster revenue growth had increased by 11%. They had been investing more on local content and up to 27% of programmes were made locally. The SABC had complied with the regulatory requirements of broadcasting in eleven languages. Applications for two new regional stations had been submitted to the regulator. The two new stations would broadcast in a South African official language other than English.

The SABC had partnerships with key stakeholders, an example was the Community Builder of the Year Awards. Much needed to be done by the Broadcaster to meet employment equity targets particularly employment of women. The brilliant work of employees had received recognition from many quarters. More than a 120 awards were won by journalists and staff. The Public radio services had seen a significant drop in radio drama, thus more investment would be injected into this format. Local music quotas as stipulated by ICASA had been more than met with an increase to 40% on Public Broadcasting Services. Two commercial radio stations namely Metro FM and Five FM had performed well in terms of revenue while Good Hope FM needed some work on programming.

Mr Robin Nicholson, Chief Financial Officer (CFO), reported that the corporation was largely self funded, from licences and advertising revenue. The Public Broadcasting Services, television services and African Radio Services had shown significant profits in 2004. The Corporation would invest in technology renewal so as to cope with events such as the 2010 World Cup, some equipment had become obsolete. Foreign Broadcasters such as the Egyptian Public Broadcaster had been asking for SABC advice on their successful edutainment programmes such as Soul City.

Discussion
An ANC member asked why were there still some parts of the country with no coverage by the electronic media and how would the two envisaged stations address issues of coverage.

Mr Matlare replied that the SABC had been working with Sentech on signal distribution. Costs for the stations would be funded by the fiscus and commercial services. The corporation was in the process of identifying private partners.

Mr C Mulder (FF) enquired about the medical aid scheme that was phased out for retired employees.

Mr S Haasbroek (DA) asked the SABC about its HIV/AIDS plan for corporation employees. Further, he suggested more exposure for minority sports and classical music.

Ms S Vos (IFP) asked what would be the programming costs of the two envisaged stations. How would the SABC address the Digital Migration Strategy and how many production houses had been dealing with the broadcaster.

In reply to these questions, Mr Funde said that R1,3 billion had been set aside for the Digital Migration Strategy. The corporation had been dealing with many production houses, some of them long term while others had short term contracts. HIV/AIDS education and counselling was provided for all employees. Swimming had been shown on Saturdays during lunchtime.

The Chair enquired about the problems experienced with the 100 Important South Africans programme. He also asked how far had they gone with their licence application.

Mr Matlare replied that the format for Great South Africans had been copied from Britain (as had Popstars) and adapted to South Africa. What the executives at SABC had not anticipated was that people with criminal records would be nominated due to their notoriety. After sustained complaints from audiences, the programme had been withdrawn. Licence application for the two stations had been forwarded to the regulator.

Ms Smuts asked about the Annual Report's compliance with the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA). Why did "wasteful expenditure" not appear in the audit report.

The CFO replied that the accounting system used by parastatals prescribes that when dealing with an amount of less than 6,5 million, it would not be shown on the audit report. The Report had complied with PFMA.

Mr Kholwane (ANC) asked what the corporation’s views were on the establishment of a national youth radio station.

Mr Matlare replied that the SABC had some discussions with other stakeholders about the establishment of a national youth radio station. The matter had never been taken to the board. Establishment would depend on the profile of the population and frequency availability. But the SABC 1 had been targeting young viewers

Mr R Pieterse asked what would be done about the equipment of the defunct Bop Television Station. He also asked why news coverage differed across the SABC channels.

Mr Matlare replied that the Bop TV equipment was being used by the news team that covered the North West area until the establishment of the two regional stations. Executive directors decide what type of news would be broadcast on which channel, stories of national importance are shown on all television stations.

Ms C Nkuna (ANC) asked when the SABC would provide countrywide coverage for all radio stations. Also, why were radio transmissions always ahead of television when both were broadcasting live programmes.

Mr Funde replied that issues relating to reach and coverage would be addressed by the technology plan. Radio used terrestrial transmitters while television relied on satellite transmission. It took longer to relay satellite transmissions than the shorter and direct distances travelled by radio waves.

Mr Mulder asked why the SABC does not have an ombudsman.

Mr Funde replied that complainants could forward their complaints to independent bodies such as the Broadcasting Complaints Commission or the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa. The board would consider the possibility of establishment of an ombudsman.

The Chair asked why the SABC relied on advertisers, would they not interfere with the public mandate of the Corporation.

Mr Funde replied that the British Broadcasting Corporation was 90% funded by the fiscus while Canada has been fully funded by the state. The Irish public broadcaster had been 50% funded by the state and 50% by licence fees. An ideal funding model for the SABC would be a combination of government and commercial support and licences revenue.

National Summit on Content and Language
Mr R Carlson, member of the of the Task Team on Broadcast Content and Languages, reported to the Committee about the recommendations of the task team. The team recommended that 60% of the content programmes in the envisaged television stations had to reflect languages spoken in those regions. Local communities had to be active participants in the operations of the stations. Bodies like the MAPP SETA (Media Advertising, Publishing, Packaging Sector Education and Training Authority)
and the Media Diversity and Development Agency were expected to play a role in skills development.

Other recommendations included were that the Public Broadcaster should give priority to languages other than English during prime time. The task team agreed with the mixed funding model used by the SABC, but they should depend less on advertising revenues. Licence fee collection should be the responsibility of bodies such as the South African Revenue Services. On local productions, the Task Team recommended the establishment of growth strategy for the production industry and cooperation with neighbouring countries production houses. Incentives should be provided for language training of broadcasting staff. Organisations such as the Pan South African Language Board should be utilised for such training. It was noted that language is not only a conduit for cultural transmission, but also an affirmation of self and nationhood.

Discussion
Mr Mulder said he agreed with the recommendations and asked what could be done by the Committee to help?

Ms Vos recommended the introduction and use of community television along the lines of Canadian Community Television.

Mr Pieterse commented that language was linked to culture.

Mr Kholwane raised an objection about the gender composition of the Task Team and asked whether they would disband or continue with their work.

Mr J Mjwara, Deputy Director: Multi-Media: Department of Communications, replied that the Task Team would continue to consult with all the stakeholders before matters would be taken forward to the Cabinet.

Ms Nkuna commented that indigenous languages were sometimes unable to express foreign concepts. She added that using one's own language had been inappropriate at certain times

Mr Mjwara replied that Afrikaans speakers did not wait for new concepts to develop. They adapted foreign concepts to suit demands of academic and other uses. The extensive use of a language would lead to its development.

The Chairperson recommended the formulation of sustainable new funding models.

Ms Smuts said that the fiscus would not be able to meet all the demands contained in the recommendations therefore private capital could play an important role in achieving the recommendations.

The meeting was adjourned.