by Thinus Ferreira
The South African public broadcaster says smart watches don't require a SABC TV Licence.
The clarification comes after rumours spread online this week that the SABC now requires TV licences for smart watches.
After a similar online hoax spread in May 2023, the SABC stated that a SABC TV Licence is not required for a car radio. Now South Africans have been threatened that they need a licence to buy, wear and use a smart watch.
"The SABC can confirm its fake news and that a TV Licence has never been a requirement to purchase a smartwatch," Mmoni Seapolelo, SABC spokesperson, says in response to a media query.
A staggering 87% of South African TV households on the SABC's TV Licence register no longer bother to pay their annual SABC TV Licence fee of R265.
The South African government and the department of communications and digital technologies have been stalling for years to get rid of the SABC TV Licence system in its current form and to replace it with a better system.
France got rid of its TV licence in 2022 and the BBC in the United Kingdom is on track to end its TV licence fee in 2027.
