The taxman cometh? SABC could use Sars to collect TV licence fees

Who could blame the people of Mzansi for being so gullible as to believe a fake statement circulating on Twitter earlier this year that the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) would be introducing a hefty licence fee for car radios?

Just another “Haibo!” moment for South Africa’s financially embattled national broadcaster which announced in February that it plans to introduce TV licence fees for computer monitors – even if they are not receiving broadcast signals on these devices.

ALSO READ: SABC taking you for a ride? Shock car radio licence claim revs broadcaster

Sars to collect ring-fenced ‘tax’ to replace TV licences?

Amid rumours swirling around that the until recently “boardless” public broadcaster might actually apply for business rescue, a new proposal to replace the SABC’s TV licences for a ring-fenced tax collected by the SA Revenue Service (Sars), has been put on the table.

The SABC’s TV licence system and compliance are without a doubt broken, with only an estimated fifth of its viewers heeding the call to “do the right thing and pay your TV licence”.

The broadcaster reported that 81.7% of TV licence holders didn’t pay their annual fees for the 2021/22 financial year – contributing only R815 million of the total  R4.45 billion TV licence bill.

Here’s how much it costs to comply in 2023:

• First time applicants – R265 annual fee.
• Renewals – R336 annually / R28 monthly with additional fees.
• 10% monthly penalty for non-payment.

Haibo, Hlaudi!

On top of all these “haibo” moments, it’s also still unclear whether former SABC boss Hlaudi Motsoeneng has paid back the R11.5 million “success fee” he received in 2016 for a MultiChoice deal.

Last time the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) checked, the broadcaster’s former chief operations officer indicated in a statement that he will find a way to challenge a Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) ruling against him in relation to the staggering bonus.

ALSO READ: SABC on the brink of business rescue, report

Not a pretty picture…

Communications and Digital Technologies Minister Mondli Gungubele revealed recently that there were a total of 9.2 million accounts with R44.2 billion in outstanding balances.

“These balances comprise unpaid invoices and penalties levied for non-payment over several years. At least 5.6 million accounts have been handed over for external debt collection,” said Gungubele, in response to Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) MP Sinawo Tambo’s parliamentary questions.

SABC’s bigger picture? Household levy fee funding model

Satellite television provider MultiChoice is proposing an overhaul of the SABC’s funding model to phase out TV licences and introduce a ring-fenced public broadcasting service (PBS) levy to be collected by Sars.

This is the so-called Nordic model, which is usually a reference to countries such as Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

According to the department’s draft White Paper on audio and audiovisual media services and online content safety dated July 2023, this proposed household levy fee funding model is being considered in the SABC Bill that was approved by the Cabinet in November last year for submission to Parliament for processing.

SABC jumping on international bandwagon

It is expected that the public broadcaster will also have a mandate in legislation to operate international satellite television, radio and internet services under the name SABC international broadcast service or SABC foreign broadcasting service, which will include:

• Channel Africa radio services; and
• The Department of International Relations and Co-operation’s 24-hour internet-based radio station, Ubuntu Radio.

SABC has not publicly announced when it will start collecting these licence fees from households.

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