Media organisations are calling for the scrapping of the SABC Bill that seeks to regulate the public broadcaster, arguing the proposed law is flawed and its proposals unconstitutional.
Media watchdog Media Monitoring Africa and public broadcasting lobby groups SOS Coalition and the SA National Editors Forum made a joint submission to parliament’s portfolio committee on communications and digital technologies, objecting to the bill and questioning its constitutionality.
The bill proposes a repeal of the Broadcasting Act of 1999.
The organisations have raised concerns about the move to introduce the bill in parliament before the finalisation of a much-needed policy update, in the form of the Draft White Paper on Audio and Audio Visual Media Services and Online Content Safety.
They claim the process is all the more alarming considering the current iteration of the bill is very different from the draft bill published for public notice and comment in July 2021 and that none of the submissions made in the process is included in the current bill.
“Moreover, the public has been deprived of an opportunity to comment on the new SABC Bill before it was introduced in parliament,” reads their statement.
The NGOs believe that, given the financial crisis at the SABC, the bill should at a minimum address the public broadcaster’s sustainability challenges with the required urgency but “the current SABC Bill offers nothing to mitigate or address SABC’s dire financial status.
“Instead, it provides for the minister of communications to take three years to develop a funding framework. Why wasn’t this done a decade ago?”
They said rather than a solution, this provision sets the SABC up for failure.
The SABC requires a new funding model that will ensure government contributes to the sustainability of the broadcaster for the benefit of the people of South Africa who depend on it, read their statement.
SABC bosses have repeatedly warned about its dire financial straits and of a possible Day Zero, the day the broadcaster may not be able to pay staff salaries.
In the latest annual report, board chair Khathutshelo Ramukumba emphasised the need to prioritise the corporation’s funding, citing financial sustainability as the biggest challenge it faces. He also acknowledged that its funding model was outdated. Only 3% of the SABC’s funding comes from the state, with about 16% from TV licences and 80% dependent on advertising.
The NGOs said they were concerned by the provision that subscriptions are envisaged as additional source of funding for the SABC. A “pay for content” model akin to that applicable to commercial subscription broadcasting services cannot be a model of public service content provision as it implies that the provision of services is limited to those able to afford them, they said.
They are also concerned that the bill seeks to give new powers to the minister, a proposal they claim to be “deeply problematic” and at odds with the independence of the public broadcaster.
They find the proposed additional powers of the minister to dictate additional functions to the SABC and to remove board members or take part in the board appointment process (particularly that of the subsidiary company) as unconstitutional and exposing the institution to government and political interference.
In addition to offering no mechanism to help the SABC mitigate its financial crisis, the bill seeks to replicate a model that hasn’t worked, has been widely discredited and one that the department’s own policy process has stated hasn’t worked.
“It’s unfathomable how a proposed bill from the same department can be so fundamentally at odds, not only with its own policy draft but opposed by the SABC and key stakeholders.
“The notion that a commercial division will cross-subsidise the public division has been a policy failure since inception.”
The organisations want the portfolio committee to request the department to withdraw the bill and redraft it, taking into consideration broad stakeholder input.
“It is crucial that ahead of the upcoming elections and beyond, the public broadcaster’s editorial and institutional independence is safeguarded for the SABC to fulfil its role of deepening the country’s democracy.”
The minister essentially is to have veto powers over:
- the appointment of each member of the board of the commercial subsidiary;
- the appointment of the chairperson of the board of the commercial subsidiary; and
- the remuneration and allowances of the members of the board of the commercial subsidiary.
The bill also proposes that the minister may remove a board member, as long as it doesn’t relate to broadcasting, selecting, commissioning or producing particular content.
It also allows the minister to appoint a person to investigate the financial position of the SABC if they have reasonable grounds to believe the corporation’s funds have been mismanaged. After receipt of the investigation report, the minister may intervene and direct the corporation to take any action specified by them if the corporation is in financial difficulty.
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