The Independent Producers Organisation (IPO) is dismayed by the information released by the Public Protector and the PWC Skills Report.
The IPO, which represents the majority of South Africa’s working producers, is both concerned and distressed by the continuing instability at the SABC, which as the nation’s public broadcaster has a crucial role to play in informing and educating our society.
There are many people in South Africa for whom this is their only source of information and entertainment. Whilst the organisation is making a few people rich, the quality of programming is suffering. Budgets are extremely low and the organisation is forced to rely more and more on advertisers to fund programming, which comes with severe challenges. In addition the production sector which is a source of thousands of jobs is becoming less and less sustainable and the quality of programming is decreasing.Instead of money going into the SABC’s core function, which is programming, it is supporting an inefficient and incompetent bureaucracy riddled with factional political, personal interests and corruption.
A once proud institution has been severely degraded over the past few years. Blatant irregularities, fiscal mismanagement and fraudulent leadership has crippled the once diverse, content orientated SABC turning it into a dysfunctional burden on the tax-payer.We call on the institutions designed to provide oversight – parliament, the shareholder in the Department of Communications and ICASA to exercise their mandate and to intervene urgently.
For further information please contact IPO Administrator on:
083 600 9554 or send an e-mail to administrator@ipo.org.za
