The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) still hopes to charge South Africans a household levy on all devices, including radios and cellphones.

Speaking at the parliamentary committee meeting, SABC chief operating officer Ian Plaatjes said the public broadcaster would make submissions during debates around the SABC Bill to consider the implementation of the levy as a means of replacing existing TV licences. 

The bill was submitted to Parliament earlier this month. 

The levy was previously proposed in 2021 in a draft White Paper to overhaul broadcasting policy, and will be charged on the realistic ability of South Africans to access public broadcast content.

The public broadcaster has been desperate to implement an alternative revenue model to improve its funding after continuous struggles to collect revenue from TV licences. 

Only 16% of South Africans currently pay their TV licences, with cash collection revenue decreasing by 13% or R115-million in the 2023 financial year. 

According to the SABC annual report for 2023, more than R4-billion was billed for TV licences, but only R775-million was collected.

"The bill before Parliament speaks about an alternative funding model for the SABC within the next three years. One of the possibilities is to replace TV licensing with a household levy. However, the alternative funding model will still be debated within the next three years," Plaatjes said.

He told the committee that TV licences would remain in the interim. 

'Pull up your socks, SABC!'

The proposal for household levies was met with opposition from members of the committee, who said that South Africans were already crumbling under the pressure of the rising cost of living. 

Democratic Alliance member and party spokesperson on communications and technology, Natasha Mazzone, slammed the idea of a mandatory levy, saying: "We can all agree that our country is living in a crisis of the cost of living every day."

Inkatha Freedom Party member Zandile Majozi said South Africans avoid paying their TV licences because the public broadcaster's platforms and programmes are becoming unattractive. 

"The SABC needs to pull up their socks. It is not that people cannot pay for their TV licences; the mentality is, why should I pay when I get programmes [that] are not what I want? People prefer to pay for Netflix, Showmax, and DStv every month," said Majozi. 

Meanwhile, questions have also been raised about the funding mechanism of a potential household levy. 

Chief executive officer of civil organisation Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse, Wayne Duvenage, said there are limited avenues that the SABC can use to implement a household levy. 

"The only government department that has the capability to implement a levy is local government departments, and even these municipalities do not have enough money. They can barely pay Eskom," Duvenage told News24. 

He said the failed implementation of TV licences over the years will also create uncertainty about the success of a household levy in the future. "We are already an overtaxed nation. People have begun to become fed up," he added.

Billions in bailouts

Another bailout has become unavoidable to fund the SABC's "costly" public mandate ahead of the 2024 national elections. 

Speaking at the committee meeting, acting group chief executive officer Nada Wotshela said: "There are education and religious programmes as well as informal knowledge programmes we are expected to produce daily. Our news is unfunded, and advertising has to cover the productions of programmes, even if they have the most impact on ordinary South Africans."

The public broadcaster has repeatedly voiced concerns about its struggles to generate revenue and to fund its "unfunded mandate" that cost R817-million in the 2023 financial year. It also reported a R1.2-billion loss and a R460-million decrease in advertising revenue earlier this year. 

Speaking to News24, SABC spokesperson Mmoni Seapolelo said, "Further funding [from government] may be unavoidable if legislative reform does not take place in the near future to take care of the heavy burden of the unfunded public mandate."

Many questions have surrounded the SABC's R3.2-billion bailout in 2019, which has done little to improve its financial position. 

According to the SABC, the bailout was used to settle outstanding debt, refurbish properties and studio venues, and acquire "new compelling content" for its programmes. 

Wotshela defended the broadcaster's use of the bailout funds for certain investments to committee members.

She said many of the funds have been invested in capital investments that will not produce financial results in the short term. 

"It is going to take a while [for them to reflect anything positive]," she said. 

However, Duvenage raised concerns about the public broadcaster's increased reliance on government relief. 

"The bailout will not professionalise the SABC or increase its advertising revenue. They cannot keep relying on government bailouts [...] They need to re-strategise their purpose and re-look at their social mandate," he said.