{
  "id": 11445015,
  "title": "Malatsi rejects claims of deliberate SABC election funding delay",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/02/malatsi-rejects-claims-of-deliberate-sabc-election-funding-delay",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-02T12:55:15.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "SABC News",
    "slug": "sabc-news",
    "url": "https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/malatsi-rejects-claims-of-deliberate-sabc-election-funding-delay/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Solly Malatsi, the Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, has dismissed claims that the SABC's delay in securing additional funding for local government election coverage was a deliberate move. He made these clarifications at a Parliamentary Portfolio Committee where the public broadcaster and ICASA presented their status on readiness to cover the November 4 polls. Nomsa Chabeli, the CEO of the SABC, had earlier assured MPs that the public broadcaster would cover the local government election, limited by its financial capabilities. Over the past meetings, discussions have centered on the SABC's financial predicament, but no concrete decision regarding funding has been announced. During a recent Friday meeting, allegations were made that the funding uncertainty and lack of financing were deliberate to prevent all parties from receiving adequate coverage. However, Malatsi firmly refuted these allegations, stating that no party, be it in government or outside, would advocate for a situation that hampers fair and balanced coverage, as nobody stands to benefit from such a scenario. Therefore, there has been no decision to inhibit any political party's reporting.",
  "summary": "During Friday's meeting allegations were made that uncertainty and lack of funding was deliberate",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}