Thinus Ferreira
The SABC is giving me just 5 days to pay for the renewal of my annual SABC TV Licence - before adding monthly late payment fees - with the South African public broadcaster saying it doesn't have to give anyone 30 days notice that their TV licence must be paid.
With less than 24% of the TV households that the SABC are aware of, still bothering to pay a SABC TV Licence, the public broadcaster's approach to its public broadcasting "customers" leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to making TV Licence holders pay, or want to pay to renew these.
At 14:00 on Thursday 26 August the SABC emailed me, for the first time this year, a SABC TV Licence renewal notice demanding another annual payment of R265 for the next year before the end of the month.
That leaves just 5 days to pay before getting slapped with additional late fee penalities if any payment occurs after 31 August.
The SABC notes in its email that "TV licence fees are payable in advance therefore your account needs to be renewed by no later than 31 August 2021. The amount payable on or before this date is R265".
"Pay yours and made a difference," says the renewal notice that doesn't contain any invoice but just a statement of the previous year's payment and the next amount suddenly due.
The SABC doesn't send other emails to consumers or use the SABC TV Licence email database to communicate other messages during the rest of the year, for instance around its content or how licence money was spent, that would make licence-payers more amenable to pay their annual fee when the time comes.
I asked the SABC in a media query why it sends a SABC TV Licence renewal notice with just 5 days to pay, and why a consumer isn't entitled to an invoice, issued to a consumer at least 30 days ahead of the date that payment is requested and why the SABC is not doing and adhering to this.
Gugu Ntuli, the SABC's group executive for corporate affairs and marketing, says that the SABC doesn't need to give anyone 30 days notice to pay a SABC TV Licence.
"The SABC takes into account key regulations when the corporation issues the renewal notices to customers. Regulation 24 of the TV Licence regulations published in the Government Gazette No 25959 of 28 January 2004 requires the SABC to send renewal notices to licence holders."
"It must be noted that the TV Licence legislation does not prescribe the 30-days notice as purported. Secondly, regulation 17 of the TV Licence regulations stipulate that all TV Licence fees are payable in advance. Paragraph 4 of the renewal notice to the client states that the licence holders licensing year commences on 1 September 2021."
"This means the TV Licence expires on 31 August 2021 and new licensing cycle starts on 1 September hence payment should be made by 31 August 2021".
'DStv should collect on our behalf'
Earlier this year Yolande van Biljon, SABC CFO, told parliament that the SABC sits with a massive 76% SABC TV Licence "evasion rate", meaning that 76% of South African TV households that the public broadcaster are aware of and send a SABC TV Licence bill to, do not bother to pay their annual licence fee.
Only 24% are still paying with the rate that keeps declining as the country's overall TV watching universe expands.
Besides the SABC's TV Licence database there are millions more South African TV households with one or more TV sets that the SABC is not aware of and that don't have licences.
The SABC wants legislation to be changed to force private commercial companies within the broadcasting sector, like MultiChoice and StarTimes who have kept their subscribers' details up to date, to add on SABC TV Licence fees to consumers' bills and to collect licence fees on the SABC's behalf.
MultiChoice as a private pay-TV operator is vehemently against the plan and says it will never do this or allow it to happen.
Calvo Mawela, MultiChoice Group CEO, earlier this year said that MultiChoice "can't be collecting for the SABC".
"Our position is simply very clear: We can't be held responsible for collecting money on behalf of the SABC. The SABC itself needs to find a way to collect such monies."
Earlier this month, SABC chairperson Bongumusa Makhathini told the Media & Society show on SABC News (DStv 404) that "the dominant pay-TV providers should collect on behalf of the SABC because they've got systems - they've got 8.2 million households in their system so they can really assist us".
"Why they should help is because the current regulatory framework has benefitted them at the expense of the public broadcaster. So it's one way of really redress and addressing the imbalances and how they've benefitted unfairly; they must help us collect that levy."