Government defers analogue switch-off as Gungubele continues public consultations

08 April 2023 - 11:01
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So far, analogue has been switched off in the Free State, Northern Cape, North West, Mpumalanga and Limpopo. Four provinces, Gauteng, the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape, are yet to complete the migration. Stock photo.
So far, analogue has been switched off in the Free State, Northern Cape, North West, Mpumalanga and Limpopo. Four provinces, Gauteng, the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape, are yet to complete the migration. Stock photo.
Image: 123RF/Marco Ciannarel

The government has again missed its deadline to switch analogue transmitters to digital.

The department of communications and digital services says newly appointed minister Mondli Gungubele will continue public consultations before determining a new switch-off date.

In December his predecessor, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, proposed March 31 as the analogue switch-off date and the end of the dual illumination period. 

This was the third deadline set during her 19-month stint in the department. The first two were deferred by courts due to insufficient consultation.

“Following the cabinet reassignment, minister Gungubele accordingly considered the written comments from the public and interested parties,” said Frans Mthombeni, acting head of communications in the department, this week.

Gungubele has been meeting affected parties to further understand the status of the implementation and to satisfy himself on the progress made and the state of readiness for analogue switch-off, said Mthombeni.

The last of these consultations are scheduled for this month, after which Gungubele will announce a new date.

A week ago, Ntshavheni told journalists the cabinet had been briefed about the progress of the broadcast digital migration programme and that it had granted concurrence for Gungubele to gazette the analogue switch-off date.

It remains to be seen however whether the government will go ahead and conclude the process before the SABC has a new board.

The erstwhile board warned Ntshavheni in March 2022 that the plan to switch off all analogue transmitters by the end of that month represented a threat to the rights of millions of indigent households, as well as to the corporation’s turnaround plan.

“A premature switch-off will deprive millions of people from important public television services,” it said at the time.

In the last round of public consultations, which closed on January 27, the broadcaster had no board, the only structure that can approve the switch-off on behalf of the corporation.

The SABC is the largest stakeholder that would be affected by digital migration.

Mthombeni confirmed the SABC was one of the parties Gungubele had met and that in the absence of a board, he met the GCEO Madoda Mxakwe and the executive management.

“The SABC has its own internal process for approval of switch-off, of which the powers resided with delegated officials,” he said.

The government was planning to switch off millions of analogue-only households in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, the Western Cape and Eastern Cape on March 31.

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