SABC asks to appear before Parliament over ‘Pimville’ payment disputes

The SABC has formally requested to appear before the Portfolio Committee on Communications and Digital Technologies to account for complaints about non-payments to cast and crew on the SABC2 telenovela Pimville, the broadcaster said.

Cancellation and claims of contractual breach

The public broadcaster announced that it had cancelled the show after a review found unresolved contractual obligations and breaches that were communicated to Bakwena Productions. In a statement, the SABC said the decision to discontinue Pimville followed careful consideration and a formal review process.

Allegations of non-payment and suspended executives

Reports of non-payment to the cast and crew of Pimville prompted scrutiny. The SABC initially said it had fulfilled its contractual obligations to Bakwena Productions, but the controversy led to the suspension of SABC head of content Lala Tuku and executives Nirvana Singh and Reatlegile “Ree” Mampa.

Parliamentary request and committee response

DA committee member Tsholofelo Bodlani wrote to the chairperson asking that the SABC appear before the committee before the end of the term (June 29, 2026) to provide clarity and avoid further reputational damage.

“The Democratic Alliance has important questions for the SABC, including: the status of the relationship between SABC and Bakwena; the facts and details about payments made to date; and an update by the SABC on the suspended officials, allegedly linked to this matter.”

During a committee meeting focused on the withdrawal of the AI Policy and consequence management, Portfolio Committee Chair Khusela Sangoni-Diko said she had received Bodlani’s letter and that the committee had already sent detailed questions to the SABC.

“We have received correspondence from you, Honourable Bodlani, which I’ve requested that it be acknowledged… We did write back to you to say that, as early as last week, Thursday or Friday, we had dispatched correspondence to SABC on the same matter.

Sangoni-Diko said the committee’s correspondence asked the SABC to respond in person rather than by letter and that the secretariat had been asked to write back and copy Bodlani.

“It was a set of detailed questions that were asking them, because this issue has not arisen only on the ‘Pimville’ series, but there had been one or two others that had been brought to our attention,” Sangoni-Diko said.

What comes next

The committee chair said the committee would action the request for an in-person appearance given that the problem appears to be recurring. The SABC has acknowledged the committee’s correspondence, and the committee has requested an in-person account from the broadcaster.