{"id":513772,"date":"2021-08-18T08:22:13","date_gmt":"2021-08-18T06:22:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=513772"},"modified":"2021-08-18T08:22:13","modified_gmt":"2021-08-18T06:22:13","slug":"south-africans-are-not-paying-their-tv-licences-but-new-laws-could-change-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/media\/513772\/south-africans-are-not-paying-their-tv-licences-but-new-laws-could-change-that\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africans are not paying their TV licences \u2013 but new laws could change that"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) expects to face continued issues around TV licences collections for the near future, as South Africans refuse to pay their fees.<\/p>\n<p>In a presentation this week, the national broadcaster said that the TV Licence cash revenue collected during Q4 20\/21 was R200.7 million against a budget of R293.7 million &#8211; resulting in a R92.9 million (32%) shortfall against budget.<\/p>\n<p>The SABC&#8217;s Q4 results cover the period between 1 January and 31 March 2021.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In comparison to Q3 (R278.3 million), there was a decrease of R77.6 million (27.9%) in Q4,&#8221; it said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There was, however, a year-on-year increase of R40.8 million (25.5%) in TV Licence revenue, a commendable improvement considering the economic constraints.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The financial data shows that the SABC failed to meet almost all of its licence targets across the board:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Renewals\u2019 revenue stream for the quarter was below budget by R65.8 million (YTD: R14 million);<\/li>\n<li>New licences were below budget by R13.7 million (YTD: R1.3 million);<\/li>\n<li>Debt collection was R13.4 million below the budget (YTD: above budget by R4.2 million).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a  data-lightbox=\"post-image\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Licences.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-513784 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Licences.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"913\" height=\"272\" srcset=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Licences.jpg 913w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Licences-300x89.jpg 300w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Licences-768x229.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 913px) 100vw, 913px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The SABC said that the Covid-19 pandemic and stretched finances were partially responsible for the continued non-payment of licences.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Lockdown restrictions, as well as the general effects of the Covid-19 pandemic characterised by loss of income by licence holders, continue to impact non-compliance by license holders, resulting in decreased cash revenue.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;As subsequent waves take hold, and the government\u2019s vaccination programme faces delays, performance can be expected to remain subdued going into the new fiscal (year).&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Harsher punishments?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>While TV licence collections have remained a sticking point for several years, the communications department is expected to strengthen regulations through the South African Broadcasting Corporation Bill, which is currently open for public comment.<\/p>\n<p>The bill proposes keeping the current TV licensing scheme and improving compliance through harsher penalties rather than introducing additional taxes and levies.<\/p>\n<p>It also proposes allowing the SABC to appoint inspectors who are empowered to approach households to check the validity of TV licences.<\/p>\n<p>The SABC has previously mooted an <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/473732\/the-sabc-wants-all-south-african-households-to-pay-a-r265-tv-tax-even-if-you-dont-watch-tv\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">annual household levy<\/a> <\/strong>of R265 on the eight million households currently in its TV licence billing system.<\/p>\n<p>It has also considered making TV licences <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/media\/444383\/sabc-wants-tv-licences-for-smartphones-tablets-and-computers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a requirement for smartphones<\/a><\/strong>, tablets and other devices under a revised definition of &#8216;televisions&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>While the bill favours the TV licence over the household levy, it does not prescribe how the broadcaster will collect the TV licence.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, it states that the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa will be responsible for making regulations that govern TV licences in consultation with the SABC and the communications minister.<\/p>\n<p>It may make regulations on the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The television licence fee, payable for any television licence issued, includes payment and collection, penalties, and ancillary costs.<\/li>\n<li>The period of validity of a television licence.<\/li>\n<li>The manner of determining fees of a television licence.<\/li>\n<li>The purpose for which and the place where you may use a television set.<\/li>\n<li>Different categories of television licences which any user of a television set may be required to possess.<\/li>\n<li>The duty to keep, maintain and furnish records and information, including a duty to supply the SABC with such records and information as may be prescribed.<\/li>\n<li>Exemptions from the obligation to have a TV licence.<\/li>\n<li>The transferability of a television licence.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Anyone found guilty of not paying their dues can be liable for the following penalties:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In addition to their regular TV licence fee, a penalty equal to double the amount of the applicable prescribed licence fee<\/li>\n<li>If you can prove that you have used your television set for less than a year, the penalty is 10% of the TV licence fee for every month you did not pay.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/media\/512824\/disney-streaming-service-to-launch-in-south-africa\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Disney+ streaming service to launch in South Africa<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) expects to face continued issues around TV licences collections for the near future, as South Africans refuse to pay their fees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":209609,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5554],"tags":[26,667],"class_list":["post-513772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media","tag-headline","tag-sabc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=513772"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":513814,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513772\/revisions\/513814"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}