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SABC denies sale of SABC 3, Metro FM, 5FM, and Good Hope FM

Johannesburg - The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has made it clear that it does not intend to privatise SABC3, Metro FM, 5FM and Good Hope FM.

The broadcaster released a statement on Monday morning after it was reportedly made aware of an article by Inside Politics published on 4 February 2020, "claiming to have exclusive access to a document titled Repurposing the State Owned Enterprises as Instruments for Economic Growth". The document reportedly proposes, among other things, that government should privatise SABC3, Metro FM, 5FM and Good Hope FM.

Inside Politics, which has 1310 Twitter followers and 1166 Facebook likes, describes itself as a publication that "brings you the original and unbiased African narrative".

Acting SABC spokesperson, Mmoni Seapolelo, said in a general press statement sent out to all media: "Because of the potential uncertainty this information can cause, the SABC believes it is necessary to clarify that it is not intending to sell the assets mentioned in the article and has had no discussions with government in this regard." 

'THE SABC DENIES CLAIMS'

Mmoni added: "As requested by National Treasury and the Ministry of Communications and Digital Technologies, the SABC is conducting a thorough process of assessing all its assets, determining which are core and non-core, taking into account a range of factors including public mandate, licence conditions and financial contribution. 

"The potential disposal of any of the SABC's media assets involves a much more complex decision matrix, with factors such as the public interest, the public mandate and the future financial sustainability of the SABC being central to any decision. In light of the above-mentioned factors, the SABC categorically denies that these media assets have been identified for sale." 

The SABC says it remains committed to ensuring that the public service broadcaster fulfils its public service mandate and at the same time "striving to be a financially sustainability institution".

Channel24 reached out to Inside Politics for comment on its article but did not receive any feedback by the time of publishing.

Compiled by Herman Eloff.

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