An appeal to put less milk in your coffee is an SABC first.(News)

AS A FORMER employee of the SABC (admittedly many years ago), things never got so bad that I was asked to put less milk in my tea and coffee.

A less liberal slant in my news copy, yes. Less time in the telex room, where my girlfriend worked, yes. But never anything that gave a darker hue to whatever I was writing, or courting, or even drinking. Greater whiteness was always the watchword.

Today's SABC is very different. With an R800 million debt to pay off, and a request to the government for a further R2 billion, it is reported to have sent round an e-mail calling on staff to help reduce the corporate deficit by cutting down on milk in their preferred hot …