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Communications Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams says her department will consider waiving television license fees for some South Africans as part of consultations on a new white paper.
Ndabeni-Abrahams was responding to a written parliamentary question-and-answer session in which he was asked if his department would consider eliminating television license fees specifically for retirees and war veterans.
“The department will, in due course, consult on the Draft Audiovisual Content and Audio Services Policy Framework of the White Paper: a new vision for South Africa,” he said.
“It would be worth considering the category of people and institutions that should be considered for such relief.”
He said that the collection of television license fees is the responsibility of the SABC. He added that his department has not taken a position on the matter because the SABC has not engaged the department on the matter.
“As stated above, this requires discussion and will be raised during public consultations,” he said.
South Africans not paying television licenses
The SABC says that TV license cash collections were severely affected during the coronavirus shutdown as its usual collection methods were shut down.
in a presentation to parliament in early September, the national broadcaster said that under the level 4 and 5 national closures, its collections were affected in the following ways:
- Mass printing and mailing to licensees ceased, this service was not considered an essential service;
- Payments at retail payment points were reduced due to Covid-19 regulations that restricted the movement of people;
- Regulations that prohibited the continuation of the Call Center operations;
- Absence of debt collection;
- The cash from the new licenses decreased as a result of the inability of retailers to sell televisions.
The SABC said Debt Collection Agencies (DCAs) began collecting in the last week of May 2020 and there was a considerable improvement in June and July 2020 compared to the previous months.
“TV Licenses cash for all sources of income began to improve slightly in June, the period in which many restrictions were eased and providers were able to operate,” he said.
“However, due to the economic climate that has had an effect on the cash disposition of licensees, compliance levels have not improved and are expected to decline steadily through the remainder of 2020.”
The cash collection for the year to date (April 1 – July 31, 2020) amounts to R228.05 million with a deficit of R166.99 million (42.3%). Year over year, cash income is R17.97 million (7.3%) less than the previous fiscal year.
Read: SABC, Correos and other state companies ask for R10 billion in ransoms
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