Canceling SABC license, tips?

[Magandroid]

How hard is it to cancel your TV licence?:wtf::twisted:

How hard is it to cancel your TV licence?
December 2 2015 at 12:18pm
By Angelique Arde
PFM IOL 3rdq 2015 TV licences Colin Daniel

This article was first published in the third-quarter 2015 edition of Personal Finance magazine.

I Am not the only person I know who dutifully pays a television licence yet doesn’t own a TV set. About three years ago, I donated my TV to the Salvation Army. It was a clunky old thing I bought in the mid-90s, long before high-definition plasma and LCD screens. It weighed about 100 kilograms (true story) and the screen wasn’t even 40 centimetres wide. It sat in the lounge like an antique of sorts, and every time I wanted to rearrange the furniture, I needed help moving the titanic TV.

Months after I gave it away, I received my annual SMS from the public broadcaster reminding me to pay my licence. I’ve always paid; I wouldn’t dare not pay. I’ve heard about the strong-arm tactics used by some of their debt-collecting agents and the horror stories about the SABC taking judgment against delinquent licence holders. Incidentally, you can’t be “blacklisted” for an unpaid TV licence. Credit bureaus don’t list TV licence debt in the same way that they don’t list unpaid traffic fines. Bureaus haven’t done so since about 2004. But if judgment is taken against you – by anyone to whom you owe money – that information will be listed on your credit report, and a judgment listing stays on your report for five years, or until you have paid off the debt (see “About judgment”, below).

And so, for fear of falling foul of the SABC, I pay.

My friend, Margie, has never even owned a TV but has a licence that she has paid for the past decade or so. Admittedly, her situation is unusual, but her reasons for paying are the same as mine: a mix of fear and resignation.

She and her ex used to rent a telly, but it bothered civic-minded Margie no end that they never had a licence. (Remember the TV ad: “Pay your TV licence. It’s the right thing to do”?) She went out and got one, and when her ex decided to ditch the rental and buy his own, she tried to give her licence to him. But a TV licence is not transferable (“except between spouses or unmarried ‘life partners’ in a permanent relationship, or on the death of a husband or wife or partner”), so Margie has been saddled with it ever since they parted.

“It’s less trouble just to pay the annual fee – which is now R265 – than it is trying to cancel the dreaded thing. It involves getting an affidavit and sending it to the SABC and then trying to get them to acknowledge it. It’s a laborious exercise.”

That’s an understatement.

My friend, Jan, had been living in the United Kingdom for several years. On one of her visits to Cape Town, she went shopping for a TV for her daughter, Amy, only to find out – from Game – that she had a debt to the SABC of thousands of rands for unpaid licence fees. (A person buying a TV set must be in possession of a paid-up TV licence. And you can’t buy a TV using someone else’s licence.) “Amy ended up buying the TV and getting her own licence,” Jan says.

Some years later, when Amy decided to go overseas indefinitely and give her TV to Jan and her stepfather, who had moved back to Cape Town, she wanted to avoid an experience similar to her mom’s.

“The SABC’s website had plenty to say about having and renewing a licence, but nothing at all about what you do if you don’t need one and do not need to renew. The call centre confirmed that a TV licence is not required when a person is no longer in possession of a TV set, and told me the SABC must be notified on a prescribed form of the reason why the TV licence is no longer required – whether it’s because the TV has been sold or given away, stolen, repossessed or has broken down permanently. It states that notice must be given by way of an affidavit by no later than 30 days after the end of the licence holder’s current licence year. If the TV has been given to someone else, the information provided must include the name, address and licence number of the person who now owns it.”

However, there was no “prescribed form” anywhere to be found on the SABC’s website – nor any other information about the cancellation process. So Amy drew up her own affidavit explaining the transfer of ownership and had it signed by a commissioner of oaths. “I attached all the information the call centre had asked for, including my stepfather’s name, address and licence number. I included a letter of complaint about the SABC’s website and the fact that the renewal form makes no mention of what you do if you do not need to renew. Then I sent all the documents to the SABC by email and recorded postal delivery.

“Months later, I got a form letter back that made no reference to the letter or the information I had sent but just stated that cancellation must be done via the affidavit on the website. But there isn’t one! So I’ve given up – and kept all the documents for future reference. It is outrageous that the SABC is allowed to bully South Africans by withholding information and behaving as though it is above the law.”

Monya Boucher, the communications and liaison officer for the SABC’s audience services division, says that “prescribed form” means “an affidavit stating all the required information to allow us to cancel a television licence lawfully”.

In terms of the SABC’s current process, Boucher says, licence holders must contact the public broadcaster in writing or via the call centre and ask for their TV licence to be cancelled. “We will then respond to them in writing by providing a copy of our pro-forma affidavit, which they need to complete. The affidavit must be certified and confirmed as a true reflection of the facts. Affidavits which have been sent by licence holders of their own accord will be accepted pursuant to all the requested information provided, and the request for cancellation processed.”

No pro-forma affidavit was sent to Amy, and, despite the call centre telling her otherwise, you can’t download the “pro-forma affidavit” from the SABC’s website, www.sabc.co.za (click on “TV licences”). Nor will you find a link called “cancellation”, or anything of the sort. Boucher says the site is in development.

The information relating to cancelling a licence is buried in the “Terms & conditions” link on the “TV licences” page. Click on the “more” button and you will find the “Statutory obligations pertaining to a television licence”. They state the following:

* A TV licence does not “lapse” and isn’t “cancelled automatically” if payment is discontinued – prescribed obligations have to be complied with and documentation completed to have a television licence cancelled;

* If a licensed TV set has been sold or donated as a gift, the SABC requires the new owner’s particulars;

* If the set has been stolen, the date of the theft and the name of the police station to which the theft was reported are needed, as well as the case number;

* If it has been repossessed, documentary proof in the form of a repossession letter from a dealer must be provided;

* If a TV set has broken down, confirmation that the set is permanently out of order is required – also by way of an affidavit; and

* A licence will not be cancelled while money is outstanding on an account. All arrears, applicable penalties and a fine become payable if you are found in possession of a TV set after your licence has been cancelled.
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[Magandroid]

In terms of the Consumer Protection Act (CPA), before you enter into a contract, a supplier must disclose its cancellation policy to you. This applies to transactions entered into on the phone, on a website or by email. Where the transaction is entered into in person, and the cancellation policy contains any provision that limits the risk of the supplier, the provision needs to be drawn to your attention before you enter into the agreement or pay for the goods or services.

But the SABC claims it is not a service provider, and is therefore exempt from the CPA.

Boucher says TV Licence Regulation No 17 (issued under the Broadcasting Act) provides explicitly that “all television licence fees are payable in advance” and “therefore, the licence fee isn’t payment for services, a broadcast signal or TV programmes provided by the SABC”.

She points to a judgment delivered by Magistrate HR Viana in 1999, in which the court ruled that:

* Payment of TV licence fees is a statutory obligation that does not establish any contractual relationship between a licence holder and the SABC; and

* The only effect that a TV licence has is to legalise the possession/use of a TV set.

Furthermore, the SABC is also not subject to the National Credit Act (NCA), because there is no credit agreement, Boucher says. This, in spite of the fact that the SABC’s website says that TV licence “accounts” that are more than 60 days overdue are handed over to the SABC’s lawyers for debt collection. “If payments are late, an account incurs a penalty of 10 percent per month to a maximum of 100 percent per annum.”

Since unpaid licence fees are not “credit” extended to a defaulter, they are not subject to the NCA or the Prescription Act, Boucher says. “These Acts both relate to payment made, post services delivered, or goods already received, whereas television licence fees are payable in advance. Failure or a refusal to pay one’s TV licence fees does not result in ‘bad debt’, but is rather a contravention of an Act of Parliament, which is, in accordance with TV licence legislation, a criminal offence.”

She says that, in the case of overdue accounts, the SABC is authorised to levy penalties in accordance with the Broadcasting Act.

“The difference is that we levy ‘penalties’, not interest. Since these are penalties, not interest, the Usury Act (limiting the interest that may be charged on outstanding debt) does not apply.”

In fact, the SABC is a long way behind the times. The Usury Act does not apply, because it was repealed in June 2007, when the NCA became fully effective.

‘Service provider’

Trudie Broekmann, an attorney who specialises in consumer law, disagrees with the SABC’s contention that it is not subject to the CPA and the NCA. “The SABC certainly is a service provider under the CPA. As such, consumers have a right to cancel their licence at any time in terms of section 17 of the Act. Obstructing consumers in this, or setting requirements for cancellation that are in addition to those in the CPA, is prohibited in terms of section 51 and consequently void.”

The SABC’s behaviour amounts to unreasonable, unfair and unjust administration of a transaction with a consumer, which is prohibited in terms of the Act, Broekmann says. “This gives consumers the right to take the SABC to court to obtain a court order declaring that the relevant contract terms are unfair and consequently void,” she says.

The CPA also gives the consumer the right to be compensated for any amounts paid to the supplier (the SABC in this case) that were not due.

Penalty

Broekmann says the NCA also applies. “Once the consumer defaults and a penalty or interest is charged, the agreement becomes what the NCA calls an incidental credit agreement. The NCA sets a maximum amount which may be charged in respect of interest, and incidental credit agreements attract interest of a maximum of two percent a month.

The SABC is in breach of the NCA and any affected person can claim damages, she says.

“I also believe the Prescription Act applies to any debt owed to the SABC: the debt lapses if the SABC has not served a summons on the defaulter within three years of the licence fee falling due,” she says.

But Boucher says that, in 2011, the SABC and the National Consumer Commission reached an agreement whereby TV licences fall within the ambit of the conditions imposed by the Broadcasting Act and the TV Licence Regulations.

“This therefore exempts SABC TV licences from the provisions of the CPA. Any matter that may be regarded as ‘a conflict of laws’ can only be decided upon by a court of law to determine which legislation supersedes another. At this point, TV licences are legislated in terms of the Broadcasting Act.”

Broekmann says she is surprised by these comments. “No such exemption has been published as is required from the commissioner, and, in fact, the commission reported in October 2012 that it was investigating the SABC’s terms and conditions as being contrary to the CPA’s requirements,” she says.

ABOUT JUDGMENT

A judgment is a court order requested by a credit provider when you have not paid your debt. A legal process is followed before a judgment is issued. A summons to appear in a magistrate’s court is issued to you. The law stipulates that the summons does not necessarily have to be handed to you in person; it can be left at your domicilium (where you live, or where you have agreed that notices may be served in the event of a breach of contract). The summons informs you of the date of the hearing and says that you are allowed to to represent yourself. If you fail to appear, judgment is issued in default. The record of a judgment against you stays on your credit report (held by various credit bureaus) until you have paid the debt in full, or for up to five years. End

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[GreatEqualizer]

The SABC is a front for the Mafia.