Civil society group Outa has called for the SABC’s TV licence system to be overhauled, which it believes will address the national broadcaster’s funding issues.<\/p>\n
The proposal, submitted to the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies as part of a submission on the SABC bill, suggests that the television licence is effectively a tax and should simply be treated as such.<\/p>\n
Under current regulations, the TV licence fee is set by the minister of communications. However, Outa proposes that the licence fee be included as a tax<\/strong> through a money bill that only the finance minister introduce.<\/p>\n “Outa is of the opinion that television licence fees amount to a tax or revenue in terms of section 77 of the Constitution. The mere fact that a person has to pay a fee for being in possession of a television set – whether it is used or not – amounts to a tax or levy.<\/p>\n “One might still argue that where the set is used, there is a benefit that accrues to the possessor, but paying for mere possession is akin to paying duty tax,” it said.<\/p>\n Other proposed changes\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Television licence fees are meant solely to fund the SABC\u2019s public broadcasting services, not the commercial services.<\/p>\n However, Outa has raised concerns that the SABC does not separate these revenue and spending streams in annual finances, as legally required.<\/p>\n The group also suggested considering a regular annual state grant for the SABC\u2019s public broadcasting services.<\/p>\n “This would avoid the irregular and disastrous last-minute bailouts but provide a more stable revenue stream, particularly for the public broadcasting sector,” it said. “This could be seen as a grant in the furtherance of democracy. Outa suggests cutting funding to wasteful programmes and diverting some of this to the SABC.”<\/p>\n Collection problems\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n The SABC expects to face continued issues around TV licence collections for the near future, as South Africans refuse to pay their fees.<\/p>\n In an August presentation, 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 \u2013 resulting in a R92.9 million (32%) shortfall against budget.<\/p>\n The SABC\u2019s Q4 results cover the period between 1 January and 31 March 2021.<\/p>\n “In comparison to Q3 (R278.3 million), there was a decrease of R77.6 million (27.9%) in Q4,” it said. “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.”<\/p>\n The financial data shows that the SABC failed to meet almost all of its licence targets across the board:<\/p>\n New legislation\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n 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 The bill proposes keeping the current TV licensing scheme and improving compliance through harsher penalties rather than introducing additional taxes and levies.<\/p>\n It also proposes allowing the SABC to appoint inspectors who are empowered to approach households to check the validity of TV licences.<\/p>\n The SABC has previously mooted an\u00a0annual household levy<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>of R265 on the eight million households currently in its TV licence billing system.<\/p>\n\n