WENDY KNOWLER | Fowl dealings when you’re boxed in by the box

It has to one of SA’s biggest mysteries.

How do you successfully cancel your TV licence should you separate from your partner, emigrate, sell or donate your TV set, have it stolen or repossessed, or no longer have your small screen for any other reason?

The key word is “successfully” because many people have informed the SABC of their intention to cancel their TV licence, heard nothing back and sometime later receive a demand for payment, plus arrears, from the corporation’s attorneys.

Often it’s the family members of those who’ve died or emigrated who are left trying to break free of the SABC’s clutches on their behalf.

Some opt to pay the annual R265 despite having long parted ways with the TV and the home it used to be in, regarding it as a fair price to pay for not having to deal with the SABC or its debt collectors, and to avoid “blacklisting”.

Of course, the most consumer-friendly thing for the SABC to do would be to pop on its website a comprehensive list of FAQs covering every possible TV licence cancellation scenario and exactly how someone can go about it: the information needed, how to present it and where to send it.

But that’s not what the SABC has done.

In a recent report on MyBroadband, a staff writer said: “My experience showed that it is basically impossible to follow the government’s suggestions and receive assistance from the SABC to cancel a TV licence.”

So I wrote to the corporation’s media division to ask why it makes it so hard. Well, yes, we can all put two and two together on that one, but corporate justifications are always illuminating.

“I have had a look at the tvlic website, under FAQ,” I said, “but there do not appear to be detailed instructions for each scenario — why not?

“If the licence holder sends the SABC notification of such changes around TV ownership and it’s to the wrong address or to the wrong platform, or does not contain all the necessary documentation, does the SABC notify them of this or simply hand them over for collection, having deemed the licence fee to be still payable?

The site instructs licence holders to divulge their “changed circumstances” via a “prescribed form (affidavit)”, but do not tell them where to find that form or, better still, provide a link to it.

Why not?

And here’s another example of “let’s make this as hard as possible” on the website.

“All notices to the SABC must be in writing and addressed to: The Manager, Television Licences, SABC, Private Bag X60, Auckland Park 2006; or By freepost to: JHZ153K, SABC, Auckland Park; or By fax/email to the numbers/addresses on the SABC’s TV licence correspondence.”

Clearly anyone who commits such important correspondence to the SA postal service these days is taking a massive risk. Fax? It’s 2022, for goodness sake.

E-mail would be preferable, but instead of putting the address right there, on the website, people are referred to letterheads. It’s beyond belief.

I also asked what information and proof is required to substantiate cancellation reasons?

I won’t go into the hoops I had to jump through to, in two attempts, months apart, get responses to those questions, but I will say that I was addressed as Wendy Fowler.

So here is what I can share ...

The SABC says it doesn’t cover all cancellation scenarios in its website FAQs because there are too many to mention. (What, on a website?)

“Licence holders who submit cancellations will be provided with the necessary information in relation to the specific reason for cancelling a TV licence.”

Yes, because that’s so much more frustrating and time-consuming for everyone.

Do they respond if a cancellation doesn’t tick all the boxes or just consider the licence to be still valid and hand them over if they don’t pay?

“The SABC responds adequately to cancellation requests by providing the licence holder with the necessary requirements for cancellation or additional information that is still required. Should the licence holder not respond, the account is not cancelled and the debt remains outstanding.”

And what about that mysterious “prescribed form”?

“The FAQ states prescribed form (affidavit). This is clear indication that an affidavit is required to cancel a TV licence account.

Right. Clear as mud.

“The form is obtainable from the SABC upon request and can be accessed from TV Licences Regulations (Government Gazette No. 25959, 28 January 2004).

“However, SABC accepts a commissioned affidavit which provides the necessary information to cancel an account.”

But it doesn’t see fit to put it on its site, where people desperately seek such information, or share it with journalists when they make enquiries. Unbelievable.

In 2015 Business Tech published a story about cancelling a TV licence which included this:

“To cancel your TV Licence you need a signed affidavit — but not just any affidavit, a specific one from the SABC.”

“BusinessTech contacted the SABC to get the prescribed affidavit but, a week later, still has not received any response.”

Then this:

“Fortunately, some were successful in cancelling their TV licence in the past and have shared the document with others.”

And they published the form.

And I take pleasure in sharing it here, having got the SABC to confirm it’s still valid.

Complete it and email it to tvlic.info@sabc.co.za as a cancellation request.

Here’s what you need to provide:

Sale of the TV: full details of the new owner of the TV set, such as TV licence number or ID number, physical address and contact details.

Donating the TV: full details of the new owner of the TV set such as TV licence number or ID number, physical address and contact details.

Disposing of a broken TV: This is subject to the manner in which a TV set is disposed. For instance, if a TV set is broken, an affidavit is acceptable. It must indicate whether the TV set has been replaced with another.

And what if a spouse who has been paying the licence for years moves out after a divorce, leaving the TV behind?

“A television licence is only transferable from one spouse to another or from one partner to another on the death of such spouse or partner.”

In a divorce matter, a copy of the decree or divorce settlement is required.”

Good to know.