It’s just too easy poking fun at the tyrannical Hlaudi Motsoeneng, who seems hellbent on single-handedly destroying any semblance of a sound financial future for our state broadcaster.

Our best effort on summing up Hlaudi’s time at the SABC can be found HERE, so stop in there if a brief refresher is needed.

Right, onto the matter at hand and why it’s just so bloody ridiculous. TimesLive, hit it:

SABC COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng has again pulled an astonishing move which will see the public broadcaster host its very own thank you, to itself, music concert.

Officially named the Thank You SABC Music Concert, the organisers (the SABC) are hoping to fill the 40 000 seat Orlando Stadium to capacity.

That’s laughable, but let’s look at the press release sent out by the SABC earlier today:

“The SABC has welcomed the ‘Thank You SABC Concert’, and all the artists that will perform have embraced and are proud of the public broadcaster’s initiative to prioritize [sic] and support local music,” reads the statement.

You know when people say ‘give yourself a pat on the back’? That above is a long-winded, expensive version.

The concert will take place on September 10, this Saturday, and there’s been virtually no press coverage. Artists slated to perform include Black Coffee, Mafikizolo, Kwesta and Emtee.

You can’t buy tickets if you don’t know about the event, although the ‘People’s Poet’ Mzwakhe Mbuli (pictured above) believes the concert worthy of a world record:

“We are promoting a brand. Even CNN or Al Jazeera or BBC has never had a concert where people in London or artists in London will say ‘Thank you CNN or BBC.’ It means what we are doing must go to the Guinness Book of Records.”

With the 90% local content ruling from Supreme Leader Hlaudi causing massive loss of advertising revenue these past few months, where is the cash for the concert coming from?

…the cash-strapped broadcaster will be footing the bill for the concert, paying for the hiring of the stadium, artists, lights and production.

You gotta spend money to make money, but I don’t think they’ve given adequate attention to the second half of that equation.

And a concert, paid for by yourself praising yourself – it’s going a little North Korea, isn’t it?

[source:timeslive]