Screw you, SABC (Opinion)

Apogee said:
While everything said is true, we should not forget that the SABC does not consists of one man.

By not paying your licence you are taking the food off the table of an SABC worker and his family who doesn't have any say in the matter.

It is exactly the same mindset that the plundering hordes have who are currently laying the universities to waste. Only thinking about themselves.

They will only understand why you cannot have everything for free, the day they start working and then being told they won't be getting paid, because the next student in line expects everything for free, which they must pay for.
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I dont support corrupt companies, the end
 
Apogee said:
While everything said is true, we should not forget that the SABC does not consists of one man.

By not paying your licence you are taking the food off the table of an SABC worker and his family who doesn't have any say in the matter.

It is exactly the same mindset that the plundering hordes have who are currently laying the universities to waste. Only thinking about themselves.

They will only understand why you cannot have everything for free, the day they start working and then being told they won't be getting paid, because the next student in line expects everything for free, which they must pay for.
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Hi, I'm from the *Noord Transvaal Jukskei (I don't even know how to spell it) Association. I'm going to be mailing you invoices pretty soon, because soccer is a sport -and so is jukskei. I expect you to pay, because it's the right thing to do.

My point is: Why should I pay for something I don't use or have any association with?

* I just made that up, obviously.
** I don't watch SABC at all (Actually, I don't watch tv, period.) and I don't pay a tv license.
 
Apogee said:
While everything said is true, we should not forget that the SABC does not consists of one man.

By not paying your licence you are taking the food off the table of an SABC worker and his family who doesn't have any say in the matter.

It is exactly the same mindset that the plundering hordes have who are currently laying the universities to waste. Only thinking about themselves.

They will only understand why you cannot have everything for free, the day they start working and then being told they won't be getting paid, because the next student in line expects everything for free, which they must pay for.
Click to expand...

Hlaudi, is that you?
 
Apogee said:
While everything said is true, we should not forget that the SABC does not consists of one man.

By not paying your licence you are taking the food off the table of an SABC worker and his family who doesn't have any say in the matter.

It is exactly the same mindset that the plundering hordes have who are currently laying the universities to waste. Only thinking about themselves.

They will only understand why you cannot have everything for free, the day they start working and then being told they won't be getting paid, because the next student in line expects everything for free, which they must pay for.
Click to expand...

Dafuq? Dave? 20 posts and you have to come and share THAT opinion with us? GTFO.

Everyone together now: F**K the SABC!!
 
Apogee said:
By not paying your licence you are taking the food off the table of an SABC worker and his family who doesn't have any say in the matter.
.
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Am sure drug dealers employ lots of people too,... I don't watch anything that the SABC produces - why should I support them... Far better that a corrupt organization goes under and the people working there move on to organizations that have integrity and don't waste tax payers money. And yes, if people choose to work for a cushy government parastatal then they shouldn't moan if there jobs are put in jeopardy by the corrupt actions of it's leaders.
 
Sunday Times: How the SABC lied to us - Oct 2012

http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/66/83796.html
Paying your TV licence may be "the right thing to do", but for eight years the SABC has been lying to us, according to the Sunday Times.
Sunday Times: How the SABC lied to us Letters of demand, text messages and calls to customers from the public broadcaster's debt collectors have threatened blacklisting, even though credit bureaus stopped listing TV licence debt at the end of 2004.

Yesterday, the Sunday Times revealed that the SABC is under investigation by the National Consumer Commission.

Although the SABC says its statutory TV licence fee is exempt from the Consumer Protection Act (CPA), that claim has yet to be tested.

Outraged consumer and justice groups described the debt collection modus operandi as "tantamount to extortion" and racketeering.

The Sunday Times has documents showing that at least four of the SABC's debt collectors have:

  • Claimed to place "trace locators" (indicating that individuals are wanted for unsettled debt) on people's credit profiles;
  • Threatened that judgments will be listed against a consumer's name for 30 years (judgments are listed for five years); and
  • Warned that a listed judgment would make it "virtually impossible" to get credit.
The SABC's own renewal reminders have threatened to list individuals at "major credit bureaus".

Unreasonable demands by the SABC on consumers have included:

  • A mentally disabled woman in Pretoria, who never owned a TV, being told to pay 25 years of licence fees that were "in arrears"; and
  • A 22-year-old first-time TV licence-holder who, immediately after getting a licence, was back-billed for arrears to the age of 18.
The SABC failed to respond to detailed questions this week, citing other priorities. When it was pointed out that similar queries, including debt-collection concerns, had been unanswered since July, the broadcaster sent a backdated reply, which it purported to have sent at the time.

It referred to one letter from a collector as not having been approved. It said the letter had been withdrawn and corrected.

Questions about widespread use of credit-listing threats, including on its own renewal notices, went unanswered.

Charmaine Grobler has vowed the SABC will not get a cent of the TV licence fees claimed from her and has warned the broadcaster that if it and its debt collectors continue threatening her, she will lay a complaint of harassment.

The 49-year-old from Vereeniging has battled to defend an overdue licence claim of R250 since November. Despite providing letters and affidavits to the SABC and collectors Shapiro Shaik Defries & Associates, saying the TV had been sold, she receives threatening letters and the debt grows as monthly penalties are charged.

"I went to the SAPS to obtain a written affidavit, and yet they persist in harassing me," she said in an e-mail.

Threatening letters 'a mistake'

Shapiro Shaik Defries & Associates director Yaron Shapiro said the firm's letters containing listing threats were "a mistake".

Shapiro had "no idea" how many such letters had gone out and apologised to consumers.

Krause Botha, compliance officer for VVM, one of the SABC's long-serving collectors, said it had received instructions from the SABC in August to delete all references to credit listings from future correspondence.

"However, for some unknown reason, the relevant manager did not follow instructions. He is no longer in the employ of VVM," said Botha.

He denied VVM had misled or intimidated customers by false representation, but failed to answer questions as to why the inaccurate information had been given.

The vice-chairman of the SA National Consumer Union, Clif Johnston, said: "[The SABC's] approach is certainly against the principles enshrined in the CPA, if not against the act itself."

The national chairman of Justice Project SA, Howard Dembovsky, said: "To threaten people with dire consequences in order to extract money is racketeering."

In 2004, the Credit Bureau Association instructed its members to stop listing SABC debt and remove any previous listings. That followed concerns that consumers were being "incorrectly" billed and listed.

The acting commissioner of the NCC, Ebrahim Mohamed, asked that complaints and documentary proof be provided to the commission. Under the CPA, a supplier or his agent may not use coercion, undue influence, pressure, duress, harassment or unfair tactics to demand or collect payment.

Source: Sunday Times Oct 2012
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JStrike said:
The problem is the next step will be to hand you over to debt collectors and then legal proceedings take place.
You don't really want to have your credit record ruined just because of the SABC
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I haven't paid my license for 2 years now, lucky they're so incompetent they haven't noticed yet. I have enquired with my local TV shop, and they charge around R500 to come to your house, plug up the antenna holes on the TV, and give you a letter so you can deregister for the TV license legally. Just hide DSTV the day they come :) ... I plan to go this route if the SABC sets collection guys on me.

As far as I know South Africa doesn't have credit records - you can just see judgements of no payment against people, but if a bank sees "defaulted on SABC payment" in your record, you might get a better interest rate on that bond, not shown the door :)
 
Apogee said:
It is exactly the same mindset that the plundering hordes have who are currently laying the universities to waste. Only thinking about themselves.
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It's not even remotely the same - the university people want free education, I don't want free SABC. I want to stop being forced to pay the SABC because I'm not making use of the services.
 
JStrike said:
The problem is the next step will be to hand you over to debt collectors and then legal proceedings take place.
You don't really want to have your credit record ruined just because of the SABC
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You don't have a credit agreement with them though, so how can they affect your credit record? I don't even have a debit order set up with them because I always viewed debit orders with government institutions as a risk with too much red tape and admin to cancel if you ever need to...
 
Can there not be a large organisation like Outa behind an initiative like this?
 
Bosvark@ said:
Can there not be a large organisation like Outa behind an initiative like this?
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Outa have indicated that they are in the process of researching the issue and getting involved. I have had some e-mail exchanges with them regarding their initial stance on the matter. Some were interpreting their stance as encouraging civil disobedience which they have since clarified.
 
BBSA said:
The advertisers should also boycott the SABC!
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This is actually what should happen! The SABC does not live off TV license revenue, it lives off advertising revenue. If advertisers boycotted it would bring the situation to a head very quickly.
 
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