TV licence crackdown mystery in South Africa

The Presidency and South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) have been quiet about the repayment of unpaid TV licence fees by government departments in the country.

In October 2024, the SABC revealed that government departments had unpaid TV licence bills amounting to nearly R35 million, prompting Communications Minister Solly Malatsi and President Cyril Ramaphosa to urge implicated departments to settle their debts.

MyBroadband asked the Presidency and the SABC if the offending departments had settled their debts and what amounts were still outstanding, but they hadn’t answered our questions by publication.

It earlier revealed that the debt of nearly R35 million relates to licences for 2,490 TV sets owned by government departments.

The debt had reduced compared to the 2022/23 financial year when the SABC revealed that government departments owed R56 million in unpaid TV licence fees.

Following the news, Malatsi slammed the South African government for failing to lead by example and pay its TV licence fees.

Non-payment puts the SABC under financial pressure, and government departments should be the last entities to default on these fees.

“The culture of non-payment of public services such as TV licenses is unacceptable,” said Malatsi.

“Government, as a leader in our society, must set the high standard for compliance with legal and financial responsibilities.”

The Minister explained that if all government departments paid their TV licence fees timeously, it would significantly reduce the burden on the broadcaster.

Malatsi contacted Deputy President Paul Mashatile for urgent intervention to address the issue.

“The SABC relies on the collection of TV licence fees as one of its key revenue streams to fund its operations,” he said.

“Yet, collectively, the national and provincial governments and municipalities owe the SABC over R30 million in outstanding TV licence fees.”

The Minister’s request came to fruition, with President Cyril Ramaphosa calling on government departments to pay their unpaid TV licence fees shortly after he wrote to Mashatile.

Vincent Mangwenya, spokesperson for The Presidency, said government must enable the SABC to fulfil its mandate rather than hinder its ability to do so.

“The SABC is an important institution of our democracy. It needs all the funding that is required in order for it to fulfil its primary constitutional duty,” he said.

“We cannot have a situation where the SABC is owed by government.”

Mangwenya said Ramaphosa had instructed National Treasury to follow up with the SABC and the departments that owe it money.

Government departments’ failure to pay TV licence fees provides a poor example for the rest of the country, especially considering TV licence avoidance rates have been climbing since 2019.

Section 27 of the Broadcasting Act No. 4 of 1999 mandates the payment of TV licence fees, and by failing to do so, South Africans are breaking the law.

However, the threat of punishment hasn’t deterred TV licence holders from avoiding payment. The public broadcaster reports on the proportion of TV licence holders who paid their fees in each year’s annual financial results.

The avoidance rate has surged in recent years. Avoidance rates from 2019 to 2024 were as follows:

• 2019 — 69%
• 2020 — 81%
• 2021 — 82%
• 2022 — 82%
• 2023 — 84%
• 2024 — 86%

TV licence fee collection is a core source of revenue for the public broadcaster, and the trend of non-payment has had a detrimental effect on its finances.

For example, the SABC billed R5 billion in TV licence fees in the 2023/24 financial year, of which it only managed to collect about R726 million, meaning it lost out on roughly R4.3 billion in revenue.

The SABC and the Department of Communication and Digital Technologies are working to develop a new funding model for the public broadcaster to ensure its sustainability.