SABC payment plan unveiled

The TVIEC statement says that in short, the SABC has finalised a list of companies to whom monies are owed, and have categorised them according to both amounts owed and the “age” of the debt.

The proposed principles governing the payments schedule sees the smaller numbers being cleared early with larger amounts being pushed to later in the year when they anticipate they will begin to feel the benefit of the cost-cutting measures they're proposing. The coalition urges producers to “Please bear in mind that this is directly linked to the SABC's cash flow situation.

“We raised the issue that while there are numerous payments in category 1 (individual payments that amount to under R50 000), the bulk of the larger payments sit in schedule 5 and 6 and are scheduled to happen in November/December, this may prove to be a challenge,” it says.

It says that for this reason, individual companies will need to use the one-on-one meeting with Mvuso Mbebe (see below) as a platform not only to clear disputes on individual projects, but to present a strong argument for payments to be expedited i.e. that the principle of the categories is waived in order to prevent a company from going under.

“This will however be assessed on a case by case basis and will not include the steering committee,” says the TVIEC.

The SABC contact person for verification and payment related issues, is *Mandy Branch,** (x6764) at Office 1926, SABC Radio Park Building. * Any queries regarding verification, your payments as well as your invoices (as part of the final verification process) should be delivered to her.

The broad principles governing verification and final settlement of outstanding debt are as follows …

On each production (and where it is appropriate):

• All assets as stated must have been/must be returned to the SABC.
  
• All reports including the relevant supporting documents to be received by the SABC by each due date *(these dates are contained in the attached PowerPoint presentation)*.
  
• All verifications to be finalised by the set deadlines, if information
  is not received by the set deadline then SABC will pay 50% of the outstanding amount in full and final settlement.
  
• If report is received with all the relevant supporting documents by
  the SABC in line with the timeline, including the return of assets and the verification is not finalised by the set deadline, then SABC will pay in full on condition that all the assets and bank statements have been received.
  
• If there is under-spend on a delivered programme, the SABC will pay
  50% of the savings in line with contract and the principles above.

The steering committee has reverted to the SABC with the following queries:

• SABC and producers need consensus on the verification process i.e. how do the individual companies know that they have been verified. This is not clear.
  
• We've made a request for individual companies to meet/speak with Mandy Branch to facilitate this process before their submissions on the 19th and certainly before their one-on-one's with Mvuso and Henk Lamberts on 22 August 2009.
  
• We've asked for clarity on how companies outside of Johannesburg are to be
  dealt with in terms of the one-on-ones?
  
• In the slide 4 of the PowerPoint presentation made last week Friday by the SABC, it states that all verifications to be finalised by the set deadlines, and that if information is not received by the set deadline then SABC will pay 50% of the outstanding amount in full and final settlement. The TVIEC says their understanding from the discussion on the day is that SABC would pay 50% in good faith and that the producer would have the opportunity later on to make an argument for the remaining 50%. We've asked for clarity on this.
  
• We have raised the issue of interest and await a response.
  
• The deadline for the submission for Category 1 has lapsed. We've
  requested that this deadline for submission be extended to 19 August as per Category 2.

Further points:

The TVIEC statement raises the following points regarding the payment plan and deadlines.

1. Payments have been categorized and scheduled so that outstanding payments can be dealt with between now and the end of January 2010. Please refer to the attached PowerPoint presentation which outlines the various categories.
   
2. Any verification disputes that individual companies have, must be submitted in writing (concise and succinct please) to Mvuso Mbebe, copying Mandy Branch and Henk Lamberts no later than 18 August 2009. Please ensure that all your documentation is in order and that your submission will not be rejected on the basis of a technicality (this is critical and a part of the process which you need to take extra care with. Please be organized).
   
3. Individual companies need to schedule one-on-one meetings with Mvuso Mbebe for 22 August 2009 (Saturday) in which verification disputes will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis and a decision taken within the meeting to “unblock” payments. Please note that your preliminary submissions must be in by 18 August.
   

The coalition says “It has been a long and arduous process, but we are slowly making headway.

“It is essential that we all understand that we are willing to travel this road with the SABC, but until we see concrete results and some form of resolution to the payments crisis, we do not endorse the proposed plan.
“Having said as much, the reality is that it is the only workable and reasonable plan for the moment. For further information, contact .

View the PowerPoint presentation.