Saving the failing SABC

Protecting the independence of South Africa’s state broadcaster played a major role in Communications and Digital Technologies Minister Solly Malatsi’s decision to withdraw the SABC Bill, the City Press reports.

Malatsi said that the Bill would endanger the SABC’s editorial independence by giving the communications minister “additional powers” to appoint board members, following his decision to withdraw it.

The South African National Editors’ Forum also took particular issue with this.

The Minister told the City Press he believes it’s imperative that the state broadcaster be safeguarded from political interference and remain independent from government pressure.

Former communications minister Mondli Gungubele introduced the Bill in question in October 2023, aiming to replace the outdated Broadcasting Act of 1999 and develop a new revenue stream for the SABC.

Until now, the state broadcaster has used the TV licence as its primary funding model. However, South Africans are becoming increasingly uncompliant with paying the fee.

Non-payment of TV licences rose from 69% in 2018 to 87% in 2024, decreasing the revenue stream from R968 million to R741 million between 2018 and 2023.

In addition to this, national and provincial governments and municipalities owed nearly R35 million in unpaid TV licence fees earlier this year.

The SABC’s difficulty is that the same law that obligates South Africans to pay a TV tax also requires it to comply with a very stringent broadcasting mandate.

This mandate requires the 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.

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

The state broadcaster saw its advertising revenue decline from R4.58 billion to R2.6 billion between 2018 and 2023. The entity reported a R1.13 billion loss in 2023.

Malatsi has announced plans to revise the Bill by 2025, following numerous consultations with industry stakeholders.

Malatsi has been criticised by Gungubele and Khusela Diko, the chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications, for withdrawing the Bill.

Both were frustrated by the progress lost from a year-long effort.

“When you remove the bill to deal with the financial model, it means that when you come back, you have to start another long process so that you have a legal basis for it,” Gungubele said.

“I find it illogical because the bill is already in the parliamentary process.”

Gungubele explained that once the Bill is in the parliamentary process, members of Parliament have it, and all that needs to be done is amend the parts that undermine its ideal intention.

However, Malatsi’s decision was also commended by several industry stakeholders for considering the long-term implications of the Bill.

When asked about whether Diko’s argument that Parliament has fixed the SABC Bill holds water, Media Monitoring Africa director William Bird said it was fundamentally flawed from the start.

He likened transforming the Bill into something useful to trying to turn a goat into a Ferrari.

Bird said the proposed law did nothing to address the SABC’s current funding crisis and did not offer new ideas.

The national coordinator of the SOS Support Public Broadcasting coalition, Uyanda Siyotula, said she supported the withdrawal because the Bill would have been passed without the finalisation of the audio and audiovisual content policy.

“We believe that this withdrawal will allow the audio and audiovisual content policy to be finalised before the SABC Bill is presented to Parliament,” she said.

Siyotula disagreed with Gungubele’s stance that the Bill should be passed and amended later because of the SABC’s financial position.