Replying to a recent parliamentary question on the amount of money South Africans owe for television licences, communications minister Mondli Gungubele said R44.2-billion is owed from 9.2 million unpaid accounts.

The minister said the amount is made up of unpaid invoices and penalties levied for non-payment over several years – and that at least 5.6 million accounts have been handed over for external debt collection.

The department will “continuously engage with the SABC and national treasury to examine the options for the necessary reform and enhancement required … to properly provide for the funding requirements of SABC and the most appropriate collection [and] enforcement systems, and a timeframe for implementation”, Gungubele said.

He also said a new bill approved by cabinet last year will provide for a new “household fee model” to replace the existing television licence to fund the ailing SABC. But will a new name – this household fee – persuade South Africans to pay the annual R265 fee?

According to News24, the SABC, which is set to post a loss of more than R1-billion for the 2023 financial year, knew of about 10.5 million registered SABC TV licence holders as at March 2022.

And it said this is just a fraction of the number of South African households who own TV sets but do not pay their licences – people who are watching pay-TV services such as DStv or StarSat, or using video-streaming services and other video content.

Read: New SABC board has urgent problems to fix

After billing R4.4-billion in SABC TV licence fees in the 2022 financial year, the SABC raked in only R815-million, meaning that a massive 81.7% of people who are watching SABC TV are simply not paying for the service. – © 2023 NewsCentral Media