Who and what is AfriForum?

AfriForum is an Afrikaans civil rights organisation that protects the rights of minority groups at national as well as provincial level, and anyone who can identify with AfriForum’s principles and objectives may join the organisation. AfriForum’s community plan focuses on mobilising communities to thus take control of their own streets and neighbourhoods again. AfriForum ensures that your constitutional and civil rights are recognised and protected at national level.

Wie en wat is AfriForum?

AfriForum is ’n Afrikaanse burgerregteorganisasie wat die regte van minderheidsgroepe op sowel nasionale as provinsiale vlak beskerm, en enigiemand wat met AfriForum se beginsels en doelstellings kan identifiseer, mag by die organisasie aansluit. AfriForum se gemeenskapsplan fokus daarop om gemeenskappe te mobiliseer om só weer beheer terug te neem oor hul eie strate en woonbuurtes. AfriForum verseker dat jou grondwetlike én burgerregte op nasionale vlak erken en beskerm word.

AfriForum blames poor, ideologically driven management decisions for SABC’s budget crisis

Soundbite: Alana Bailey (English)

Klankgreep: Alana Bailey (Afrikaans)

AfriForum believes that one of the main reasons for the current financial predicament of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), is the fact that poor management decisions are being made, which are based on ideology, rather than sustainable business development.

This comment follows in response to a submission that the broadcaster made to Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) yesterday (14 May 2025). According to it, the SABC needs approximately R7,5 billion to finance costs. Furthermore, management confirmed that it suffered a loss of R700 million in the 2023/2024 financial year.

According to the CEO, Nomsa Chabeli, the funds required is supposed to be obtained from the institution’s commercial activities. She mentioned that it is extremely difficult to achieve this and be self-financing. The SABC had already received a financial bailout of approximately R3 billion about two years ago.

Alana Bailey, AfriForum’s Head of Cultural Affairs, believes that under these circumstances it is particularly surprising that management allows decisions to be made about Afrikaans TV programmes and news bulletins that clearly have a negative impact on viewer numbers and advertising revenue.

“One would think that when there are high viewer numbers that attract advertisers, the programmes, time slots and channels responsible for this would be nurtured. Not only can it ensure that the costs of these programmes will be covered, but cross-subsidisation can take place to cover the costs of other necessary broadcasts. However, in recent years, SABC TV has discontinued popular Afrikaans broadcasts, tried to evade payments to producers and other service providers, resulting in the alienation of leaders in the industry, and played around with the channels and times of Afrikaans TV news bulletins, causing viewer numbers to decline dramatically.”

Yesterday, Chabeli again assured Parliament that the Afrikaans news bulletin of 5 April 2025 failed to air due to an unintentional error and that Afrikaans TV news is safe. However, AfriForum still does not feel reassured, as too many sources from within the SABC have indicated that the institution is preparing to terminate Afrikaans news bulletins on weekends.

On 9 April 2025, AfriForum submitted a formal request to the SABC in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (also known as PAIA) to demand answers about the future of Afrikaans TV news broadcasts. No response has been received yet and AfriForum has therefore followed up the request with an appeal.

“For many people, the SABC provides the only TV news service they have access to. It is therefore essential to ensure that the service is continued and managed sustainably,” Bailey says.