SABC TV licence pain

South Africans are expected to continue a public boycott of TV licence fees while the SABC formulates a new funding model that can rid the public broadcaster of its financial distress.

This is according to Free Market Foundation senior associate Gary Moore, who believes that the SABC’s days of generating revenue through TV licence fees are coming to an end.

The SABC’s TV licence compliance rate plummeted from 31% to 13% between the broadcaster’s 2018 and 2023 financial years.

By the end of 2023, the South African public owed the SABC R44 billion in unpaid TV licences.

These are only those households who previously had a TV licence and are now refusing to pay. It does not account for those who bought their TVs on someone else’s licence.

Moore points out that the SABC reported a total of R4.7 billion invoiced for TV licence fees payable in its financial year ending 31 March 2023, of which only R741 million was collected.

This amounted to only 16% of the public broadcaster’s revenue — advertising comprised 57%, sponsorships made up 15%, and the rest came from other sources.

The same law that obligates South Africans to pay a TV tax also holds the SABC to a very stringent broadcasting mandate, requiring it to programme its broadcasting in a way that is often unappealing to advertisers.

The Broadcasting Act of 1999 requires SABC to programme its five TV channels and 18 radio stations to treat all population segments equally and broadcast a wide variety of audience interests in all official languages.

As the SABC has noted, this comes at a great cost and makes attracting advertising revenue difficult for more niche broadcasting segments, resulting in a financial loss.

However, the Broadcasting Act also mandates that South Africans pay for a TV licence if they own and use a TV in their household. This also applies to businesses that own a TV.

Failure to pay for the licence will incur a 10% monthly penalty up to a maximum of 100% per year.

Furthermore, the Act specifies that a court could impose a maximum penalty of R500 fine or up to six months in prison.

Moore pointed out that the boycott of TV licence payments is not a recent occurrence, and the government’s attempts to intervene have proven ineffective.

“When laws are absurd, their observance becomes absurd, too,” says Moore.

“But when disregard for the law enters the psyche of any society, it becomes difficult to have that society respect useful laws such as those against harming persons or property.”

Former communications minister Mondli Gungubele tabled the South African Broadcasting Corporation SOC Ltd Bill 32 of 2023 in the National Assembly to replace the Broadcasting Act of 1999.

The bill reproduces all provisions of the Broadcasting Act, including the requirement that South Africans obtain a TV licence and pay a sum to the SABC.

It also stipulates that communications and finance ministers will need to conduct a feasibility study and create a new funding model within three years of the bill being enacted.

This must ensure that “the majority of the Corporation’s funding is sourced from the State-based funding mechanisms”. Moore said the precise meaning of this phrase is unclear.

Moore argued that the process to pass the bill is also still more than a year away, as it still needed to make its way through parliament, after which the president can sign it into law.

“One can reasonably expect that any such new funding model for the Corporation will not be finalised and implemented in less than five years,” said Moore.

“In the meantime, the current situation of mass refusal by users of television sets to pay the prescribed fees to obtain television licences will continue, with the Corporation being in a continual state of financial crisis.”