By Johnathan Paoli
The EFF has called on the government to urgently inject substantial public funding into the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) to modernise its infrastructure following disruptions to television, radio and digital broadcasting services caused by a prolonged electricity outage at its Auckland Park headquarters.
In a statement on Wednesday, EFF spokesperson Thembi Msane said the incident had exposed deep-rooted weaknesses at the public broadcaster, including ageing infrastructure, inadequate investment, financial instability and years of alleged mismanagement.
“South Africa cannot have a public broadcaster that struggles to keep its services on air, lacks the resources to adequately cover elections and falls further behind commercially competitive media institutions,” Msane said.
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The party said the disruption was symptomatic of the deterioration of an institution that had increasingly struggled to fulfil its public mandate, warning that its difficulties could not be dismissed as an isolated operational problem.
It argued that years of inadequate investment and financial difficulties had undermined the SABC’s ability to compete with privately owned media organisations and provide comprehensive coverage of important national events.
The EFF also criticised what it described as the politicisation of appointments and alleged corruption in the management of the broadcaster, saying these had contributed to the deterioration of an institution responsible for ensuring public access to information.
“The EFF rejects the normalisation of the deterioration of the SABC through politicisation of positions as well as corruption in the running of the entity over years,” Msane said.
The party called for an urgent and substantial injection of public funding to facilitate the refurbishment and modernisation of the broadcaster’s infrastructure.
It said this should include upgrading studios, strengthening transmission infrastructure, investing in digital platforms and installing reliable backup electricity systems to prevent similar disruptions.
The EFF further called on the government to reconsider its approach to funding the public broadcaster, arguing that its performance should not be measured against the same commercial considerations applied to privately owned media companies.
“[The] government must recognise that the SABC is not an ordinary commercial enterprise whose success should be measured by profitability. It has a public responsibility to inform, educate and entertain South Africans, and ensure that communities across the country have access to information,” Msane said.
The statement comes as the SABC battles to maintain its television, radio and digital broadcasting services following a prolonged electricity outage in the Auckland Park area that began on Sunday morning.
The broadcaster has been relying on generators to keep its operations running but warned that the extended use of emergency power had affected its ability to maintain normal transmission across certain platforms and services.
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The situation worsened on Tuesday after City Power informed the SABC that it could not provide a confirmed restoration timeline following a secondary explosion at a substation.
The SABC said its technical teams were working around the clock to minimise interruptions and restore affected services while engaging relevant stakeholders to monitor developments and implement contingency measures.
The Department of Communications and Digital Technologies said Minister Solly Malatsi had been informed that the outage was caused by damage to the Mayfair substation.
The department said Malatsi was in contact with the SABC’s group chief executive officer to receive updates on the situation.
“City Power has indicated that a technical team is working on repair plans and alternative supply routes to restore electricity to those affected by the interruption,” the department said.
It added that the broadcaster’s management had indicated that transmissions were continuing on backup power while contingency plans were being developed to sustain operations.
“The Minister and the DCDT will continue to engage with SABC’s management team to drive a coordinated effort to minimise any further disruptions,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, the SABC has apologised to audiences and stakeholders for the interruptions, saying it would provide further updates through its official platforms as more information became available.
