Africa-Press – South-Africa. Parliamentary portfolio committee on communications and digital technologies chairperson Khusela Sangoni-Diko wants the government to invest more in the SABC.
“Jobs, livelihoods and the sustainability of both the public and the community broadcasting sector are at risk,” she said.
Sangoni-Diko was speaking at this week’s economic cluster chairpersons’ media briefing, themed “Opening New Economic Opportunities”.
She said Sentech, which distributes the SABC’s television and radio signals, is losing more than R70m a month covering the SABC’s unpaid distribution costs.
“Sentech has threatened to cut off the SABC signal distribution because they cannot carry the debt any more. When we spoke to both Sentech and the SABC, they indicated that they don’t think they can continue with their operations in the current state beyond December this year.”
The broadcaster’s woes are partly rooted in an outdated funding model that relies heavily on TV licences, which have suffered due to nonpayment. Bailouts and debt have kept the SABC afloat in recent years.
“The SABC is at a risk of collapse. It’s burdened by unsustainable debt, outdated infrastructure and a broken funding model,” Sangoni-Diko said.
“The SABC has not had a technological infrastructural refresh in more than a decade. Government has a responsibility to invest in this asset and recapitalise when necessary. Time for decisive action is now.”
The SABC Bill, introduced in October 2023, was meant to address the crisis by creating a new funding model to replace the failing TV licence system. Instead, it only set a three-year deadline for developing a replacement, leaving the broadcaster’s immediate funding challenges unresolved.
“As a committee we are deeply concerned about the prolonged and unnecessary delay in the processing of this bill. We wrote to the minister on this matter two weeks ago, calling for urgent action on his part to resolve the financial and operational challenges at the SABC,” said Sangoni-Diko.
“It’s been more than six months since we agreed to stand down as a committee to allow him to deal with it and not much has been done. We are urging the minister once again to finalise this process and not hide behind bureaucratic red tape.”
Communications and digital technologies minister Solly Malatsi recently said his department would soon appoint a service provider to develop a funding model for the SABC after the withdrawal of the SABC Bill last year.
Sangoni-Diko said the committee has called on the department of communications and digital technologies to engage with the National Treasury about investment in the national broadcaster.
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