SABC receives first unqualified audit opinion in decade due to underperformance

The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) says despite challenges with its funding model that negatively impacted its financial results, it still delivers on mandate and remains popular with South Africans.

The public broadcaster has presented its 2022/23 Annual Report in Parliament on Friday with a net loss of over R1 billion – with revenue down nearly 8%.

The corporation has been issued a Disclaimer Opinion by the Auditor-General, citing significant uncertainty regarding the SABC’s capability to sustain its Going Concern status.

The report notes that the SABC faced challenges from funding models and internal and external factors affecting financial results. However, the corporation achieved several significant milestones.

The SABC says the significant under performance of revenue can be attributed to a variety of internal and external factors including but not limited to the growth in audience ratings that did not meet expectations, the impact of analogue switch off and load shedding, the inability to successfully monetise sport properties and other content and the increasing TV License evasion rate.

“After seven (7) years of consistently improving net losses, the year under review unfortunately saw a significant regression. This is as a result of revenue that was 7.9% less than 2021/22 financial year and 27% less than budget. The SABC made a net loss of R1.13b. This translates to a R949m more than the previous financial year. The cash reserves consequently decreased by R709m (60%) as compared to the R300m recorded in the previous year,” reads SABC’s statement.

With upcoming positive changes in the law, the SABC is optimistic about becoming financially stable and growing.