Tag: South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC)

The TV licence system is on life support. Less than 20% of South Africans with a licence actually pay. The costs of chasing payments often outweigh the revenue collected. People simply don’t see value in funding a public broadcaster anymore. They have an endless stream of content available elsewhere. That said, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) still matters.

Austerity does not need to mean suffering. Cutting public spending is urgent to address South Africa’s growing debt. Delaying cuts will only worsen debt and interest payments, making future cuts more severe. Reducing spending needn’t harm South Africans, as many wasteful expenses can be removed. In 2023, the Democratic Alliance (DA) estimated that the African National Congress (ANC)-led departments wasted around R40 billion in 2022/23 alone.

The South African Broadcasting Corporation was established in 1936 by the Broadcasting Act that year. That Act was substituted by a 1973 Broadcasting Act, which has been replaced by the current Broadcasting Act, of 1999.

After three years of public hearings and with a price tag of over a billion Rand, Justice R.M.M. Zondo, the Acting Chief Justice of the Republic of South Africa, handed the fifth and sixth parts of the report on state capture and corruption during the presidency of Jacob Zuma, to President Cyril Ramaphosa.

The State Capture Report released by Chief Justice Raymond Zondo is a scathing account of collusion between the State and politically connected cronies. The Inquiry took almost four years and cost nearly R1 billion to complete; uncovering the reasons why State-owned entities are performing abysmally with corruption playing a central role in the decay.

The Broadcasting Electronic Media and Allied Workers' Union (BEMAWU) recently launched an urgent application in the Labour Court interdicting the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SOC) Ltd (SABC) from proceeding with retrenchment processes and forcing the SABC to adhere to fair consultation processes [BEMAWU & Others v SABC & Others, in the Labour Court of South Africa, Johannesburg, Case Number J1199/20]. 

South Africans are a sports-loving nation, often building social cohesion through sport. Former President, Nelson Mandela built bridges between South Africans through sport: “Sport has the power to change the world,” Mandela said. “It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than government in breaking down racial barriers.”

The law is supposed to fulfil two important functions in society: protecting people’s persons and property, and conflict avoidance. When the law steps outside of these functions, the law itself becomes a source of conflict, as we have seen throughout history, especially in contemporary South African history.