SABC owes millions to South African artists

In a document sent out to the minister, the Democratic Alliance’s Phumzile van Damme asked: “What amount does the SA Broadcasting Corporation owe in royalty payments to the (i) SA Music Rights Organisation [SAMRO], (ii) SA Music Performance Rights Association [SAMPRA], (iii) Association of Independent Record Companies [AIRCO], (iv) Independent Music Performance Rights Association [IMPRA], (v) Recording Industry of South Africa [RiSA], (vi) Composers, Authors and Publishers Association [CAPASSO] and/or (vii) any other relevant association, (b) for how long has each amount been outstanding and (c) by what date will each outstanding amount be paid?”

Van Damme shared the response via Twitter on Tuesday morning. “A reply to my parliamentary Q reveals that the SABC owes local musicians approximately R75 000 000 in royalties,” her tweet reads.

In one of her replies to Van Dame, Dlodlo said the reason for non-payment to SAMPRA and IMPRA was because “both societies have not agreed on the percentage split of the amount based on the play history reports SABC has generated”. SAMPRA and IMPRA are collectively owed more than R52m, which has been outstanding since March 2014.

SAMRO is among those owed millions by the SABC with more than R14m outstanding as of April 2017. According to Dlodlo’s reply, payment to SAMRO is scheduled for the third quarter of this fiscal year.

AIRCO‚ RiSA and CAPASSO are owed between R2.4m and R3m each.

In April, SAMRO denied claims that that the SABC owed it R400m, as well as assertions that the two parties had taken their altercation to the copyright tribunal.

“We are not taking each other to the copyright tribunal and the SABC does not owe us R400m,” SAMRO spokesperson Tiyani Maluleke said at the time. “In previous years, the SABC has consistently paid SAMRO a tariff for its radio airplay and we haven’t had a problem as far as that is concerned. We are always in negotiations with the public broadcaster for the television tariffs.”

The full response to Van Damme’s questions can be accessed here. You can also download the attached document below.

Meanwhile, the SABC has on several occasions made headlines for losing millions in taxpayers’ money without batting an eyelid. Last month, the struggling broadcaster submitted a funding proposal to Dlodlo following a meeting by the Department of Communications, National Treasury and SABC’s top management.

It’s not clear how much funding the SABC is pursuing but the proposal’s submission follows reports that the SABC had made a loss of R1bn in the 2016-17 financial year. The SABC began breaking records in losses after former chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng unilaterally introduced a 90/10 local content policy just over a year ago. In July last year, Motsoeneng paid tribute to 180 local musicians by allocating R50 000 to each of them.

A few months later, in October, he defended the public broadcaster's R411m loss, saying the SABC was not in the business of making a profit. “For me, it's not a loss. If we can play in the space of commercial earning, you will always get profit. But we are not in the business of profit. We are in the business of servicing our audience,” he said.

Motsoeneng was removed from his position as chief operating officer after it was found that he had lied about his qualifications. The revelations were made in a report by then public protector Thuli Madonsela into his fitness to hold office. A ruling by the Western Cape High Court in December last year found that he was unfit to hold any office at the SABC.