There was nothing untoward about SABC chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng receiving an increase of almost R1m, the public broadcaster’s CEO, Frans Matlala, said on Wednesday.
Addressing the media at the SABC in Johannesburg, Matlala said it should be noted Motsoeneng had been promoted from an acting to a permanent chief operating officer and, in any position, “a salary hike was expected when one was promoted”.
It was alleged Motsoeneng’s annual pay had increased from R2,9m to R3,8m in this financial year.
The R912 000 pay rise included a R279 000 bonus.
Matlala added Motsoeneng was not the only SABC board member who had received a pay hike.
Meanwhile, the SABC has recorded a R395m loss in the last financial year.
Matlala said the biggest cause of the loss was due to the public’s failure to pay television licences and advertisers cutting down on expenditure.
However, the company was not broke and had cash reserves of R1,1bn.
Although this was lower than the R1,4bn the broadcaster had at the end of 2014, Matlala said the decline was also because some funds were invested in areas like content, employee benefits and converting contract workers to permanent employees.
Matlala said despite this there was “good news to share” about the last financial year.
He claimed the broadcaster had made remarkable progress, although there was “room for growth”. — News24
