AfriForum puts further pressure on the government to do away with TV licenses and privatise the SABC

Cancel TV licenses and privatise the SABC – this was AfriForum’s demand today during its parliamentary oral presentation. The civil rights organisation’s submission was directed at the South African Broadcasting Corporation SOC LTD Bill [B32-2023] which was opened for public comment earlier this year by the portfolio committee on Communications and Digital Technology.

According to AfriForum, these two changes are the most sensible solutions to the SABC’s long-standing and ongoing struggle with funding, corruption, mismanagement and wasted expenditure. AfriForum’s primary solution proposes the privatisation of this state institution. However, if the government rejects the decentralisation of state power, the alternative is to do away with TV licenses. Either way, the current dysfunctional status quo cannot continue. Earlier this year, AfriForum submitted written comments to the portfolio committee on Communication and Digital Technology regarding this bill which pushed for the same solutions.

AfriForum argues in its written submission that privatisation will lead the SABC to better efficiency, higher quality programs and financial stability. Privatisation will also help fight corruption and mismanagement. In relation to the disposal of TV licences, AfriForum cited the sky-high rates of evasion and non-compliance, as well as the unjustifiable additional financial burden it places on poor households. AfriForum also tabled possible alternative sources of financing.

According to Ernst van Zyl, head of Public Relations at AfriForum, the South African government has had more than enough time to reverse the deterioration and sad state of affairs at the SABC. It is time for an alternative – an approach that is not state-centred.

“TV licenses are an inefficient, outdated source of funding for the SABC. In 2023, the evasion rate of license payments stood at a sky-high 87%. TV licenses must therefore be done away with and replaced with an alternative financing model that really works. In the case of a privatised SABC, TV licenses will also naturally belong to the past,” Van Zyl concludes.