South Africa's communications minister Yunus Carrim (left).
A new task team has been set up by Yunus Carrim, minister of communications, and Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, deputy minister, in a bid to bring stability to the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC).
Carrim and Ndabeni-Abrahams met with the SABC board and management in order to address the issues discussed at an earlier meeting.
“We have decided to set up a high-level team made up of the SABC, the Department of Communications (DoC), National Treasury and the Auditor General of South Africa to set a firm foundation of financial stability of the public broadcaster,” said Carrim.
The new team will be tasked with assuring the challenges emanating from the government guarantee targets are met reasonably as well as ensuring the SABC is skilled appropriately and at the correct levels.
Furthermore, the meeting also touched on the digital terrestrial television (DTT) progress in South Africa, thus recognising a need for further consultations with other stakeholders in order to secure consensus.
The new SABC 24-hour news channel launch preparations was also on the agenda at the meeting where addressing the outstanding legal, financial and other aspects of the launch were discussed.
“South Africans need to have access to a constant stream of news, information and entertainment. The SABC has a responsibility to ensure that,” said Carrim.
Ellen Tshabalala, chairperson of the SABC board, said the public broadcaster is utilising the 24 hour news channel launch as a means to “fine-tune” its readiness for launching DTT in South Africa.
“I am satisfied with the progress made in addressing the issues at the SABC. We remain committed to playing our full role in turning the SABC around,” said Tshabalala.
