The impact of political interference in state-owned companies: a case study on SABC

Abstract

Subsequent to numerous corporate scandals worldwide, corporate governance of state owned companies (SOCs) has been a topic of interest in almost every household. As a result of these corporate failures, a number of countries adopted different codes with a view of safeguarding against similar events. Notwithstanding efforts by countries to develop guidelines on good corporate governance, the state of SOCs remains in agony. This mini-dissertation therefore tries to sketch out governance challenges facing the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). The mini-dissertation examined the impact of political interference in the running of the SABC, the legislative framework governing the SABC in order to assess its effectiveness and a brief overview of the SABC with a view to understand how the SABC is run and how it ended up being in the current crisis. The findings of the study include but not limited to poor leadership, irregular appointment of board members, and lack of autonomy by the board of directors and inefficient regulatory framework at the SABC. The study concludes that the SABC is characterised by corruption and lack of accountability which have been found to be barriers to implementing good corporate governance. In addition, the atmosphere at the SABC was found not conducive to the features of good corporate governance. The SABC is also subjected to numerous and complex legislation which sometime conflict with each other and hinders the SABC from executing its mandate.