The SABC sent me a mail

[The_Ogre]

...with a form attached to request cancellation of my TV license.

The problem is I never asked for it to be cancelled. I just didn't pay it for the last two years. Here's the mail:

CANCELLATION REQUEST: TELEVISION LICENCE No xxx

We acknowledge receipt of your request to have your television licence cancelled. For the SABC to consider your request, please complete the enclosed pro forma affidavit (sworn statement/ solemn declaration). In terms of the Broadcasting Act, No 4 of 1999, as amended the following particulars are required:

1. The date from which you are no longer using and/or in possession of ANY television set.

2. An explanation of what has become of the television set that was previously in your possession and licensed in your name. Should you have sold it or donated it as a gift, TV Licences requires the new owner’s particulars (surname, initials, ID number and address) as well as his/her TV licence number, if applicable. Should your television set have been stolen, please provide us with the case number under which the theft was reported to the Police. Should your TV set have been repossessed, the name of the store and the manager’s signature or a store stamp is required.

3. Since many households have more than one television set confirmation is also required that apart from the set in respect of which this cancellation has been requested, you have NO other TV set in your possession. Please confirm by providing the relevant date opposite Point 1 of the pro forma affidavit. Without such confirmation your request cannot be processed.

In order to update/verify the information on our records, the SABC reserves the right to dispatch inspectors at a reasonable time to check whether there is a television set at any premises. Should a set be found in your possession after processing of this request you will be liable for payment of TV licence fees as well as the applicable penalties, and the necessary steps will be taken to recover such moneys.

Please mail or fax the requested information to the SABC. On receipt thereof the matter will receive our urgent attention. Feel free to call our Customer Service Centre on (011) 330-9555 should you need more information and please quote your television licence number in any communication with the SABC on this matter.

Yours sincerely

So they want to send someone to walk through my house to look for a TV? They'll have another thing coming!

 

[Wag]

My neighbor tells them for the last 15 years to produce a search warrant or farkoff. Never came back with a warrant.

 

[DJ...]

Just tell them that you have 8 big dogs and they're all untrained. Then open the gate and see how far they're willing to go to check for a tv.

Or just tell them to fsck off...

 

[upup]

At one time they said they had a machine that can detect a tv from the street inside your house.

I am still waiting to see how this thing works.

 

[sal12344]

My neighbor tells them for the last 15 years to produce a search warrant or farkoff. Never came back with a warrant.

Old Radios Act allowed a member of the Department of Communications to enter a premises to check for TV without a Warrant. If you refused there was a ridiculous jail sentence attached to it. M-NET /Multichoice reps used to instigate such a visit when they had info about a Pirate Decoder. SABC almost never used it.

 

[daveza]

An explanation of what has become of the television set that was previously in your possession and licensed in your name. Should you have sold it or donated it as a gift, TV Licences requires the new owner’s particulars (surname, initials, ID number and address) as well as his/her TV licence number, if applicable. Should your television set have been stolen, please provide us with the case number under which the theft was reported to the Police. Should your TV set have been repossessed, the name of the store and the manager’s signature or a store stamp is required.

And what if it just died and you put in in the skip ?