The Cabinet of South Africa has granted its approval for the submission of the 2023 South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) Bill to parliament.
While the specifics of the new bill are still unclear, it aims to introduce modifications to the current TV licence fee collection system by scrapping TV licences in favour of a dedicated tax system to be administered by the South African Revenue Service (SARS).
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SABC has faced financial difficulties in recent years, especially with the growing digital offerings of streaming networks.
The broadcaster’s predicament has been influenced by various setbacks as well, such as a policy that hasn’t seen updates in the past two decades, the government’s discontinuation of the analogue signal, resulting in a 40% decline in audience figures, and the failure to appoint a governing board.
As reported by The Citizen, the Cabinet’s announcement states that upon enactment into law, the bill will lead to the abolition of the existing Broadcasting Act of 1999 (Act 4 of 1999). These changes are intended to enhance the effectiveness of the public broadcaster’s operations.
Additionally, the bill also suggests alterations to the SABC’s funding approach and the TV licensing system.
In August, SABC disclosed that 81.7% of TV licence holders failed to remit their annual fees for the 2021/22 fiscal year. This resulted in a mere R815 million contribution towards the total TV licence bill of R4.45 billion.
The Sunday Times reported that SABC’s last recorded profitable fiscal year was nearly a decade ago, in the 2013/14 financial year.
A former SABC sport manager and founder of Sportscape Media, Gary Rathbone, told The Citizen that the failure of individuals to pay for their TV licences is the primary cause of the broadcaster’s predicament.
Last month, the SABC declined to pay R37.7 million to MultiChoice for the broadcasting rights to showcase all prospective Springbok games during the 2023 Rugby World Cup in real-time.
Only at the last moment was an agreement reached between the SABC and MultiChoice to permit the matches to be aired on the public broadcaster’s channel.
‘The answer is straightforward. If everybody paid their licence fee, we wouldn’t have this issue. The SABC would be making a profit and would be able to afford the rights without a problem,’ said Rathbone.
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