The out-of-cash SABC that urgently needs a massive cash injection before the end of this month has launched a new public awareness campaign this month asking South Africans to pay their SABC TV licences, saying it "is an investment in the future of our country".
"As the SABC we say, pay your TV licence as everything is #MadePossibleByYou," says the SABC in a statement.
The South African public broadcaster currently has 9 million active SABC TV licence payers on its database.
South Africa however has over 19.1 million TV households, with the vast majority of the over 44 million TV viewers not paying for a SABC TV licence.
The SABC says it has "embarked on a drive to create awareness around the benefits of paying your TV licence" with the latest marketing campaign that will use SABC on-air talent like Leanne Manas, Ismail Abrahams and Thomas Mlambo hitting the road to share stories of how the payment of TV licences has made it possible for them to contribute to the lives of others.
SABC viewers are also seeing the late actor and producer, Joe Mafela who unexpectedly passed away last month, as part of the marketing campaign. He was included in the latest SABC TV licence campaign and recorded a message two weeks before his death.
"The TV licence fee that the public pays does not only directly fund investment in much-needed media infrastructure and content development; it contributes to enabling the youth to acquire valuable skills. Therefore, paying your TV licence is an investment in the future of our country," says SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago.
The crippled SABC that's bleeding the last of its cash reserves and that has stopped paying all its service providers and TV producers at the end of March, is urgently waiting on the new minister of communications, Ayanda Dlodlo as well as treasury to hear what kind of bail-out the public broadcaster will get to help it stay afloat.
