Parly committee to visit troubled SABC

Parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) is not letting the SABC off the hook and will be knocking on its doors in Auckland Park, Johannesburg, next week.

The committee has also planned an oversight visit to the SA Post Office (Sapo) head office to get a clearer understanding of Sapo’s capacity to make grant payments, following the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) debacle.

Chairperson Themba Godi said on Friday the committee was committed to keeping a continuous eye over the national broadcaster to clear its irregular expenditure and fruitless and wasteful spending.

The SABC has notched up irregular expenditure of about R5 billion and fruitless and wasteful expenditure of about R127 million.

“We want to get the SABC right,” Godi said. “This will see Scopa engaging with the leadership of the SABC until we are satisfied that the financial mismanagement rot is cleansed.”

Godi also took a swipe at the SABC and other public institutions for suggesting that they were not accountable to parliament.

He was referring to an earlier comment by acting group chief executive officer James Aguma that parliament had to be careful.

Fingers also have to be pointed at politicians for not taking partial responsibility for the problems at the SABC.

“Accountability is a political and a constitutional right. Officials must choose their words carefully,” Godi said.

The committee would also meet Sapo to gain a picture of the entity’s capacity and state of readiness to take over social grant payouts. Sassa has also been invited to attend the meeting.

“It is our unconfirmed understanding that the ministerial advisory committee recommended, the use of the Post Office, as from April 1, 2017,” Godi said.

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