Question NW1887 to the Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies
17 November 2021 - NW1887
Mabhena, Mr TB to ask the Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies
What (a) prompted the SA Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) to move Ikwekwezi FM from Johannesburg to Tshwane a few years ago, (b) are the running costs associated with running Ikwekwezi FM, (c) is the projected savings for the SABC to move Ikwekwezi FM back to Auckland Park and (d) is the total number of other SABC radio stations that are affected by the move.
Reply:
I have been advised by the SABC as follows:
a) The decision to move Ikwekwezi to Tshwane was done by the previous leadership of the SABC and the reasons are unknown.
b) The SABC has moved Ikwekwezi FM back to Auckland Park due to associated previous running costs of R684k per month. The station will be housed at the SABC’s Auckland Park campus with no extra costs to the SABC. Moreover, the SABC has also upgraded its Auckland Park radio facilities which accommodates all its Gauteng based radio stations and has a disaster recovery capability for all other radio stations. The additional future costs of upgrading the Tshwane Office is therefore mitigated and the economies of scale, both employees and facilities is leveraged.
c) The projected direct savings are R684k per month in rental costs. This excludes the necessary upgrades that would have been required and the additional staff costs associated with running these stand-alone studios.
d) Motsweding FM based in Mahikeng, North West Province, also transmitted a few programmes from Tshwane.