SABC bill does not fix its problems

• Proposal creates more uncertainty for broadcaster

A legislative proposal meant to enhance the SABC’s governance structures and finances has left more questions than answers, creating more uncertainty for the public broadcaster as it battles to lift revenues.

A legislative proposal meant to enhance the SABC’s governance structures and finances has left more questions than answers, creating more uncertainty for the public broadcaster as it battles to lift revenues.

The draft SABC Bill published by communications minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams for public comment earlier in July moves the needle backwards.

This is while hopes were high that the public broadcaster, the main source of news and commentary for many locals especially in far-flung areas, could be on the road to recovery. It recently reported a profit of R43m, its first monthly profit in five years.

But spirits have been dimmed after the publication of the bill that ignores some of the crucial suggestions made by stakeholders to put the broadcaster on a sustainable path, including calls for a household levy to help fund its operations.

SUBMISSIONS

The SABC has not commented on the bill yet, but it is understood the board will submit detailed submissions soon registering its concerns. If approved, the bill will replace the Broadcasting Act, which regulates the SABC and the role of the minister in its affairs.

A concern is that the bill does not explicitly tackle the pressing issues facing the broadcaster: revenue generation and entrenching the independence of the board, a crucial step needed to rebuild trust in the company after years of political meddling, which led to the collapse of previous boards. This contributed to the financial turmoil it has suffered.

The bill proposes that the size of the SABC board be reduced from 12 nonexecutive directors to nine, and it suggests that the position of COO be dissolved, leaving the broadcaster with only the CEO and CFO as executive directors.

The department of communications has previously argued that a smaller board is necessary for faster decision-making and accountability. The reduced board will save the broadcaster almost R1m in board fees and related costs, it says.

As the department says it will not comment on the substance of the bill, it remains unclear why the position of COO, which is crucial for ensuring the smooth running of the organisation’s daily operations, is being abolished.

What is clear is that the size of the board was never the problem, which was always political interference and the appointment of unskilled people and individuals who were more loyal to ANC factions than the broadcaster’s interests.

It is thus a concern that the bill maintains that the communications minister and her finance counterpart should have a say in the finalisation of salary packages for executives.

This could be seen as an attempt to claw back some control by the ANC government.

It undoubtedly goes against the spirit of the high court ruling in 2017 that affirmed the independence of the SABC board. The court ruled that the executive members of the SABC had to be appointed solely by the board without any requirement of approval by the minister.

The case had been brought by groups, including Media Monitoring Africa, after years of political interference that led to the collapse of previous boards and contributed to the financial mess at the broadcaster.

On the financial side of the debate, the bill largely maintains the licensing regime and proposes a few tweaks and penalties for those who fail to pay their fees but nothing that moves the needle forward.

INSPECTORS

It proposes allowing the SABC to appoint inspectors who are empowered to approach households to check the validity of TV licences.

The Broadcasting Act already allows the SABC to appoint inspectors to check whether a household has a licence. However, the public broadcaster has hardly used this route, citing the exorbitant cost of hiring inspectors. There are also concerns that criminals could masquerade as inspectors to gain access to households.

These proposals will hardly make a difference. The public has lost confidence in the public broadcaster after years of mismanagement and political meddling, and do not see value in supporting it.

The SABC had been pushing for the TV licence fee system to be scrapped and replaced with “a device-independent, techneutral household levy for public broadcasting, which would levy all households, with exemption for the indigent and discounts for pensioners”.

This proposal is also in line with a separate but related draft white paper or broad statement of government policy on audio and audiovisual content services. This white paper details that the statutory definition of broadcasting services is too narrow and too platform specific, ignoring streaming services such as Netflix. It is suggested that the TV licence fee regime should consider latest devices such as tablets and smartphones as they are able to receive broadcast content.

Meanwhile, the SABC Bill only refers to a traditional TV set, which makes it outdated. A logical step would be to pause the bill pending the finalisation of the forward-looking white paper, which should inform any future legislation on broadcasting.

As nonprofit media watchdog Media Monitoring Africa director William Bird puts it: “The current [SABC] bill would be OK if we were in 2009. It is simply hopelessly, embarrassingly, extraordinarily out of touch with where we are.”

Mish Molakeng, who speaks on behalf of Ndabeni-Abrahams, says the bill is not cast in stone and is “just a proposal ... the final product might be completely different from what was published in the gazette”.

The public has until August 31 to comment on the bill.