MPs to visit cash-strapped SABC

24th March 2017 By: African News Agency

MPs to visit cash-strapped SABC

Members of Parliament (MPs) are expected to visit the beleagured South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) head office in Auckland Park, Johannesburg, next week to check whether it is cleaning out the rot that has beset the public broadcaster.

Parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) announced on Friday it would meet with the five-member interim SABC board which the National Assembly endorsed, but has yet to be approved by President Jacob Zuma.

“We want to get the SABC right. This will see Scopa engaging with the leadership of the SABC until we are satisfied that the financial mismanagement rot is cleansed and good governance, adherence to the PFMA [Public Finance Management Act] and National Treasury regulations have become common cause,” Scopa chairperson Themba Godi said in a statement.

On March 1, MPs lashed SABC management for not being able to explain who was responsible for irregular expenditure of about R5-billion and fruitless and wasteful expenditure totalling over R100-million.

MPs on the committee said they would hound the broadcaster’s management until they received answers.

The visit will happen on Tuesday, March 28.