SABC's R26-m 2010 WC Rental Bill
Niren Tolsi, Mail & Guardian
Apr 30 2010 13:32
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The cash-strapped SABC plans to rent studio space at the Sandton Convention Centre during the World Cup -- at an astronomical mark up -- from a businessman linked to the broadcaster's head of Project 2010, Peter Kwele.Read more »
Graham Cooke, the president of World Travel Awards and a personal friend of both Kwele and his wife, Lindiwe Mahlangu-Kwele, the chief executive of Johannesburg Tourism, is the middleman from whom the SABC will rent the space.
At a cost of R26-million for 1800m2 for the duration of the event, Cooke will make a substantial profit on the deal -- according to the convention centre, its rates during the World Cup period have remained at R20 a square metre a day for exhibition hall one and R15 a square metre a day for its second exhibition hall. But in the sub-letting deal, the SABC will effectively pay about R480 a square metre a day.
Last year the SABC spurned the opportunity to rent space at Nasrec, the site of the opening and closing games. At €380 000 (about R3,7-million), the public broadcaster decided it was too expensive. The broadcaster had decided to downscale its presence at Nasrec, presenting only 12 matches from there and the rest from the SABC sports studio at Auckland Park.
But that's not what happened. In the new year the SABC general manager of sport, Oupa Mahlangu, issued an instruction calling for "big ideas", triggering a scramble for new broadcasting space. According to internal SABC documents in the possession of the Mail & Guardian, Kwele then went ahead and facilitated the deal with Cooke.
According to the documents, Kwele arranged to barter R1-million worth of advertising in a trade exchange for the use of the convention centre. On March 17 he passed on the handling of the trade exchange to Mahlangu after confirming to the technical team working on the project that it was in the region of R1-million.
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