Thank you very much House Chairperson, hon Minister, when it comes to this, the SABC really gets up my nose and I am saying this for a very simple reason. Our artists rely on royalties for an income. It's not a nice to have. If someone were to take away your salary for a month, you'll go berserk. It is
their bread and butter. That is what all our artists get as an income.
The SABC as the national broadcaster is not paying them their bread and butter. It is as simple as that. In many cases, our artists are starving. They can't pay their medical aid, their bonds, their cars and basic things like food to put on the table. The public broadcaster is unable to pay them the most basic of their royalties.
I asked this question in February. The response I got was that the Sampra was owed R125 million. Most recently, it went up to R160 million before this agreement was concluded; that's the information I have. In the nine months since, the backlog or debt owed to our artists, not to entities, went up and then you intervened. This has been coming for year and years. Also, you go and enter into litigation, which also costs a lot of money.
My simple question to you is ... after I have called on you right now to remember that this is people's income ... Why does it take years to build up this debt before there is an intervention from you or any of your predecessors while our artists out there are literally starving? Thank you.