Hon Chair, I need
to put it categorically that the turnaround strategy was developed by the SABC itself. The fact that the SABC developed that turnaround strategy and Treasury got involved was because they needed R3,3 billion and Treasury wanted to know whether, with the turnaround strategy and with what the SABC wants, there will be value for money, going forward.
So, firstly, Treasury, by all means, will be involved because we need to protect the taxpayers' money. Secondly, on the issue that the SABC was unable to deal with selling off assets and other related things, remember, I said when I presented that there were three preconditions. One speaks to public broadcasting services - the current radio stations like Ukhozi, Thobela,
everything. SABC needed to separate how they report on the commercial aspect and the public aspect. The commercial aspect is the radio stations like Five FM, Metro and others.
So, Treasury told us not to club them together. We have the public mandate and we have the commercial mandate. They said that we must see if the commercial aspect of the SABC is making money.
The same applies to noncore assets. Noncore assets will include land that the SABC owns and it will include all other things like TV channels and radio broadcasting opportunities that might not be making money to the SABC. So, the SABC has to look at those to decide where it can do PPPs, where it can do a lease and where it can do build, operate and transfer. So, those are the things that the SABC is doing and falls under the preconditions.
The issue of digital migration is something that will also assist and enhance the SABC to explore other platforms, other than the regular platforms of radio and TV that are currently operating, and the SABC will be
able to play in the digital space. That is what the SABC is preparing for now to also be competitive. Thank you.