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The ANC wants taxpayers to finance the bankrupt South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) through a ‘household tax’ that every household in the country would be forced to pay. sunday time reports.
The ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) included this in its draft resolutions during a meeting last week.
He proposes that the government should introduce a special tax that each household must pay, regardless of how they consume the content.
“Every home is supposed to have a television. It doesn’t matter if you look at it or not, ”said NEC President Nkenke Kekana.
He said that while the tax would not be a significant sum of money, collectively, it would be significant for the struggling SABC, the newspaper reported.
The proposal will be further discussed during an NEC meeting next month and, if agreed, will be taken to the ANC’s national general council (NGC) in May, where it would become government policy if accepted.
The tax would reportedly use a model similar to current indirect taxes, such as the fuel tax, which funds the Highway Accident Fund (RAF), and the electricity rates used to help Eskom.
Financing problems
Unprecedented market conditions and evolving technologies are responsible for SABC’s current precarious position, Communications Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams said recently.
Responding to a plenary session of the National Assembly in early December, Ndabeni-Abrahams said the national broadcaster was also affected by the state capture.
“A large proportion of the problems are market-related and require (the government) to reshape the SABC as the public broadcaster in a multi-channel and digital environment. (We need) to rebuild the public station that we want. “
Ndabeni-Abrahams said the problems for national broadcasters are not unique, as broadcasters in Europe and other parts of the world face similar problems.
The minister said that by far the biggest problem for SABC is finding an appropriate funding model, as the current mix of advertising, government subsidies and television license fees cannot meet current demands for content.
He said this has been exacerbated by declining public spending, a challenging Covid-19 environment, and an increased number of players in the sector.
New ways to collect
The SABC presented its 2019/20 annual report in parliament in mid-November, showing a further decline in people paying for television licenses.
The broadcaster said television licensing revenue fell 18% year-on-year to 791 million rand due to the delay in the use of debt collection agencies during this period.
“This resulted in only 24% of total license fees billed as revenue, compared to 31% for the year ended March 31, 2019.
“As part of a general policy review, the SABC is finalizing proposals for the government on the future collection of a tax on public broadcasting, taking into account the different opinions of the public on this issue, as well as international best practices” , said.
In a opinion piece Posted in early November, SABC’s television licensing director Sylvia Tladi said changes must be made to South Africa’s broadcast regulations, including an expanded definition of ‘television’ or now, a broadcast device.
Some of the devices that are being considered under this expanded definition include:
- Laptops;
- Tablets;
- IPTV;
- Internet;
- Decoders;
- Decoders;
- Smartphones.
Tladi said that these devices, which have given rise to new media platforms and content broadcast channels, have a direct impact on television licensing legislation.
He said the SABC filing also calls for a revised television license fee system and changes in legislation regarding the public funding strategies provided by television licenses.
Read: South Africa can look forward to a SABC 2.0 built with new funding
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