The SABC was 'technically insolvent' and was unable to fulfil its financial obligations, CEO Madoda Mxakwe said yesterday. 'If we were a private company, we would have been recapitalised,' he said at a briefing with reporters in Johannesburg, on the dire financial situation at the public broadcaster. He said the threat of commercial insolvency was also increasing.

On Monday, the SABC announced that it would proceed with retrenchments in a bid to cut costs, notes BusinessLIVE. It was looking at cutting 981 permanent employees and 1 200 of the 2 400 freelancers. Mxakwe yesterday said the SABC's wage bill was R3.1bn, and its total expenditure R3.5bn.

'This is not sustainable,' he said. The total cost to company of the SABC's three executives was R12.5m, which he said was 0.5% of the wage bill. The total cost to company of the group executive committee was R25m, and cost of freelancers was R500m per year.

Mxakwe said the SABC had five layers of management, which amounted to 495 managers over all, at a cost of R630m.

This escalated to R1bn if you included junior managers. SABC CFO Yolande van Biljon said total expenditure incurred in 2017-2018 financial year was R7.269bn compared to budget of R7.279bn. The corporation's net loss year to date was R323m.

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Resistance to the retrenchment plans is mounting from organised labour and politicians, says a Beeld report. Trade union Bemawu says it is considering an interdict against the planned retrenchments. Matankana Mothapo, of the Communication Workers’ Union, says it is clear that the SABC has already decided to proceed with retrenchments before consulting with organised labour.

‘The SABC is undermining us,’ Mothapo is quoted as saying.

Politicians are also weighing in. ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule called for government intervention. ‘The Minister and government must meet with SABC employees. It would be suicide to retrench more than 2 000 people. There are men and women who have been working there for many years and it cannot be right that they are retrenched,’ he said. The EFF also called for ‘urgent intervention’ and a government bailout.

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