Pressure is mounting on communications minister Solly Malatsi to act to rescue the SABC as it struggles to pay its escalating bills.
On Monday, reporters heard that state-owned signal distributor Sentech, whose primary client is the SABC, is “subsidising” the public broadcaster’s signal distribution expenses to the tune of R70-million/month.
This is according to parliament’s portfolio chair for the communications portfolio, the ANC’s Khusela Diko, who spoke at an economic cluster media briefing in parliament. She warned that the SABC is “at risk of collapse” as it waits for an updated funding model.
“As we stand here today, Sentech – which has the SABC as its main client – is bleeding more than R70-million/month to subsidise SABC’s broadcast signalling costs. This is unsustainable, yet the SABC Bill, which is essential to ensuring sustainability, remains stalled in this parliament,” said Diko.
“The SABC is at risk of collapse; it is burdened by unsustainable debt, outdated infrastructure and a broken funding model.”
The SABC Bill remains in limbo following Malatsi’s decision to pull it from parliament in November 2024. He argued the bill in its current form failed to address the issue of SABC’s funding model adequately.
Malatsi is also worried that the bill gives too much power to the communications minister over the appointment of the SABC board, thereby threatening its constitutionally mandated independence from the executive arm of government.
Political ructions
The move caused ructions in the government of national unity and, in February, Deputy President Paul Mashatile held a high-level meeting with Malatsi to address the issue. “When we spoke about the SABC and we said among other [things] that the withdrawal of the SABC Bill is sounding a death knell [for] the institution, we were told we were being alarmist,” Diko said on Monday.
The SABC has on numerous occasions since the bill was pulled pleaded with parliament for a speedy resolution to the development of its funding model. Proposals have included hiking TV licence fees, introducing a streaming levy that will be collected by streaming platforms like Netflix on behalf of the SABC and granting a VAT exemption to the public broadcaster on the TV licence fees it collects.
In an interview with TechCentral in late August, Malatsi said the communications department had advertised for a service provider to assist with the review of the SABC’s funding model and the process of appointing one was being finalised.
The minister said the role of the SABC would need detailed review. “It will take multiple players to fix the SABC and it’s going to require we have a fresh approach to what the role of the public broadcaster should be and position [the entity] in a way that allows it to be competitive in a highly competitive media space.”
Read: High-level meeting to thrash out SABC Bill controversy
Issues between the SABC and Sentech, meanwhile, run far deeper than the R70-million/month crisis highlighted by Diko. As of 31 March 2024, the SABC’s debt to Sentech stood at a staggering R1-billion, with the SABC refusing to pay unless rates are renegotiated. The SABC has accused Sentech of “monopoly pricing”, refusing to repay debt to the signal distributor from as far back as 2022.
To address the impasse, Malatsi last September called for the matter to be resolved through mediation. The communications department in July 2025 published a tender seeking a mediator to help negotiate a longstanding feud between the two entities. TechCentral sent queries to the SABC and Sentech over the matter, but no response was received by time of publication.
According to Diko, the portfolio committee is “deeply concerned” about the “prolonged and unnecessary” delays in processing the SABC Bill. Diko said government also has a responsibility to “invest in and recapitalise” the SABC when necessary, and suggested the SABC reach out to national treasury to secure funding.
But the SABC is not the only entity in the communications portfolio that is struggling financially. When the Post Office requested a further R3.8-billion bailout on top of the R10-billion over 10 years that the ailing entity has cost the public purse, finance minister Enoch Godongwana told the communications department in October 2024 to go “find the money” to save it.
“The SABC is not looking for a bailout and we want to make this point clear that government has a responsibility to invest in this strategic asset and recapitalise it when necessary,” said Diko.
Read: Government steps in to resolve SABC, Sentech tariff feud
“We wrote to the minister two weeks ago calling for urgent action on his part to resolve the operational and financial challenges at the SABC. It has been more than six months [that] we agreed to stand down as a committee and allow him to deal with it and not much, if anything, has been done.”
TechCentral contacted the Malatsi’s spokesman for comment and will update this article once it has been received. – © NewsCentral Media
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