SABC fines producers

Sets, props and other production requirement purchased during filming become SABC assets but according to the TVIEC statement, there is seemingly only one asset controller and production houses state there is a waiting time of up to two years while verification of assets is contested.

Now, the TVIEC claims, production companies are also facing what the coalition calls “bizarre claims" that vast amounts of assets are missing, "as the controller eventually does her checks”. The coalition says the industry has gone so far as to photograph assets in order to prove that they are accounted for, but the SABC seems unwilling to discuss the issue. The coalition says that as a result of these alleged losses, the broadcaster seems “intent on withholding money from production houses as a matter of course”

It is TVIEC's opinion that these claims represent yet another attempt by SABC to “alleviate its cash flow crisis at the cost of the independent production sector”.