Five things you need to know about the SABC annual report

The SABC dropped a bombshell late last night with its 2015/2016 annual report‚ and it’s a big deal.

In Cape Town today‚ the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) is taking the SABC’s executives to task as they ask the difficult questions.

Here are five things you need to know:

1. Hlaudi’s salary: According to the financial statements‚ former Chief Operating Officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng earned R4.1-million. Broken down this is a R2.5-m basic salary‚ a 13th cheque of R213 000‚ expenses and other allowances of R945 000 and employers contribution to medical aid and pension funds of R485 000.

2. Irregular spending: The auditor general found a total of R5.1-billion in irregular‚ wasteful and fruitless expenditure. Yes‚ R5.1-billion. It’s all very complicated‚ but it’s an accumulation of money spent without following correct policies and procedures in 2015 and 2016.

Here’s a breakdown of how that money was spent:

* Payments without a contract in place – R40.9m (compared to R13.4m in 2015);

* Procurement processes not followed – R16.2m (down from R62.9m last year);

* No original tax certificate at date of award – R142.3m (down from R308.9m in 2015)‚ and;

* Inadequate monitoring of contracts/split orders – R225.9m (up from just R822 000 in 2015).

3. Losing it: The SABC group filed a total loss of R411.6-m by the end of March 2016‚ compared to a loss of R131 370-m for the same period the previous year.

4. Big bucks: The largest amount listed under expenditures is for ‘employee and directors compensation and benefit expenses’ which totaled R3.2-billion out of a R7.9-billion total revenue. It cost the SABC more than R1-billion to collect this revenue.

5. Criminals at the SABC?: According to MP’s who were asking some difficult questions of the SABC executives‚ the Auditor General’s report found the SABC had no idea which of it’s employees had criminal records. Acting CEO James Aguma responded to questions saying he would have to “get a full report from the Human Resources department on that”.