According to news reaching this platform, the South African public broadcaster (SABC) has fired two top executives following a disciplinary process that found them guilty of attempting to conceal a lucrative profit-sharing agreement with Discover Digital. The controversial deal, linked to the public broadcaster’s streaming platform, TelkomONE (now rebranded as SABC Plus), was revealed after intense scrutiny.
According to the Johannesburg City Press, SABC spokesperson Mmoni Seapolelo confirmed that the board had dismissed Mr Ian Plaatjies, the Group’s Chief Operating Officer, and Mr Merlin Naicker, the Group Executive for Video Entertainment. The two were suspended in February after a legal review by Werksmans Attorneys. Reginald Nxumalo, the group executive for sales, resigned before being suspended for his involvement.
The investigation revealed that the executives misled the committee, falsely claiming that the SABC would receive 100% of the advertising revenues from the deal. The truth emerged when SABC’s head of legal, Advocate Ntuthuzelo Vanara, questioned a clause in the contract, though the agreement had already been finalised by then.
The Werksmans report, following an internal SABC audit, found that the three executives had deliberately hidden critical parts of the agreement and failed to act in the public broadcaster’s best financial interests.
This revelation comes as the SABC grapples with severe financial challenges, a situation of utmost urgency. In August 2023, SABC had not recorded a profit in nearly a decade. In June 2023, SABC CFO Yolande van Biljon warned that the broadcaster was struggling to cover operational costs and risked going into business rescue. The memo also projected a staggering R1 billion loss for the 2022/23 financial year, a figure that underscores the gravity of the situation.
As the SABC continues to navigate its financial woes, the fallout from this scandal underscores the broader challenges facing the broadcaster in the digital age, a landscape fraught with complexity and uncertainty.
