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Cape Town – The SABC boss Hlaudi Motsoeneng who now calls himself “an ordinary employee” has seen his astronomical salary balloon further to a massive R4.19m, coming as the struggling broadcaster posted yet another loss of R411m in the same week as top executives jetted off to the luxury Hilton Mauritius Resort and Spa.
The controversial SABC executive, who the Public Protector found in her February 2014 report lied said he “should never have been appointed at the SABC” and who implicated him in several instances of maladministration and abuse of power, has now become the best-paid employee at the beleaguered SABC, increasing his salary from R3.78m to a staggering R4.197m during the 2015/2016 financial year.
The almost half a million increase comes after Hlaudi Motsoeneng’s almost R1m salary increase during the previous year, outearning even president Jacob Zuma.
Included in Hlaudi Motsoeneng’s R4.19m payday is a bonus of R213 000 – up from the previous year – as well as expenses and allowances of R945 000.
While Motsoeneng and acting CEO James Aguma keep saying “the SABC is sustainable”, cash balance plunged further and fell below the R1bn threshold, now sitting at an alarming R881m, as its losses increased from R395m to R411m by the end of March.
While the SABC spends million to gather SABC TV licence fees, the SABC’s shocking financial report reveals that the South African public broadcaster keeps getting less money as collection fees “continue to decrease” with the majority of South Africans who simply don’t bother or care to pay for a SABC TV licence.
The SABC more than doubled what it pays in consulting fees – now at a staggering R80m – while material losses due to fruitless and wasteful expenditure increased from R58m to R92m.
Lap of luxury in Mauritius
Meanwhile the SABC’s failed to manage the optics with SABC executives Bessie Tugwana and Nomsa Philiso jetting off to Mauritius for a luxury conference in the same week as the SABC revealed its staggering R411m loss.
On Tuesday, Hlaudi Motsoeneng who was just re-appointed as the SABC’s head of corporate affairs was specifically asked at a press conference if he was still going to Mauritius.
Although he’s no longer the SABC’s chief operating officer (COO) – which is why he was invited to the NexTV CEO 2016 African TV Business leaders summit – Motsoeneng was adamant that he was definitely flying to Mauritius on Wednesday.
He was suddenly replaced by Bessie Tugwana and Nomsa Philiso on the Mauritius TV summit getaway with no explanation from the SABC.
It’s not known how much the SABC is paying for the executives’ island jaunt where South Africa’s minister of communications Faith Muthambi is the keynote speaker on Africa’s digitisation and future of TV in Africa.
