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The Democratic Alliance (DA) wishes the new board of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) taking office today well in their efforts to restore order at the embattled broadcaster. The DA hopes the new board will act in the interest of all South Africans by restoring the principles of good governance and financial prudence in order to re-establish public and investor confidence in the public broadcaster.

The new board must also act to revitalise the local television industry driven to the brink of collapse because of the SABC's management and monetary issues.

There are a number of issues that the new board must tackle as a matter of urgency in order to achieve this.

First, the corporation must commit and strictly adhere to a sound austerity plan to move the SABC from the red to the black.

Second is the matter of the appointment of the new head of news. For too long the SABC has created the image of having compromised news values in favour of the ANC. The broadcaster must adhere to regulations in the Broadcasting Act which compels the SABC to "...provide significant news and public affairs programming which meets the highest standards of journalism, as well as fair and unbiased programming, impartiality, balance and independence from government, commercial and other interests." The person appointed as head of news must serve as an embodiment of these values and can not be another Snuki Zikalala who, as SABC news and current affairs head, used his position to protect and further the agenda of the ANC.

Third, in order to ensure a committed and fit-for-purpose staff complement, the new board must act to purge the SABC of employees implicated in corrupt activities under the previous management of the SABC. The Auditor-General's report into irregularities at the SABC needs to be re-considered. Due to time constraints associated with ensuring that the report was tabled before the end of the parliamentary term the A-G was unable to complete the investigation, and as it stands, the report includes a long list of allegations received by his office but not covered in the investigation.

These include allegations of:

Payments made to consultants/service providers that provided services outside the business scope of the SABC to the tune of R212 million.
Duplication payments for the implementation of business software which cost the SABC an amount in excess of R200 million
Two different companies paid to supply ANC conference t-shirts
Over R10-million paid to consultants without the requisite legal contracts being in place.

The SABC's annual report revealed that advertising revenue fell by almost R64-million in the 2008/09 financial year. Whilst the recession did indeed play a role in this decline, poor management leading to the lack of quality programming and incessant programme repeats and in turn leading to a loss in viewership also played a role.

The DA will be monitoring the situation at the SABC to ensure that the public broadcaster enforces fiscal discipline, strong and honest leadership, and a culture of responsibility and transparency.