“The SABC was never consulted on the act or the mechanism for releasing it”, a senior member of the corporation said on the 3 November 2009.
Economists say the bill's tax proposal would hurt the rich. Russell Lamberti, a Strategic Economist said higher income earners would end up "shouldering the burden of subsidizing the SABC , while low-income earners will receive free television." Lamberti said, it is a "worrying trend" for the government to "try to levy more taxes in order to fund what is inherently inefficient organization such as SABC."
Kate Skinner of the Save Our SABC (SOS) coalition, said confusions about payments caused by the release of the bill, could cause a shortfall of about 5 percent to 6 percent in license payments, which the SABC could ill afford. Communications Minister, Siphiwe Nyanda said the bill to tax viewers to fund the SABC is not a final solution and it is not an attempt to interfere with the independence of the broadcaster.
The Interim Board Chair Irene Charnley refused to deny or confirm that the board had any knowledge of the bill before it was gazetted. "The bill is here and we intend submitting our response before 7 December 2009," she said. She added the corporation would return to profit by 2012 and pay off its debts within two years, this year (2009). The public broadcaster loss had escalated over September 2009 and October 2009 by R120 million to R910 million.
Charnley said the board would submit a formal application to the Treasury on the 4 November 2009 for a R1.4billion debt guarantee. She said she expected the request to be approved, which would allow the SABC to borrow in the local debt market to commission new local content. An interim injection of R200 million announcement by Finance Minister Pravin Gordan would be used to pay for local content already commissioned, she said.
Background
The Department of Communications has submitted a draft bill to do away with TV licenses and change how public broadcasting is funded in South Africa. Communications Minister, Siphiwe Nyanda confirmed that the PSB Bill was intended to replace the Broadcasting Act of 1999. His department is amending and renaming the act to bring it in line with international standards. He said a strategy would be formulated to secure the SABC's revenue stream from other sources. The draft bill is intended to align the broadcasting system with the country's developmental goals. The wide-ranging bill provides, among other things, for the establishment of a Public Service Broadcasting Fund to provide revenue for public service broadcasting. It further provides for an international broadcasting services division within the SABC, the revision of the composition of the corporation's board, and a performance management system for the board.
It also outlines the mandate of the signal distribution company Sentech, as the common carrier. The bill also provides for charters for the SABC and community broadcasting services. Nyanda said the bill would prioritize particular categories within public broadcasting through the licensing of specialist channels for children's programming, wildlife and documentaries.
Members of the public have been urged to go to www.doc.gov.za <http://www.doc.gov.za> to comment on the bill before the 7 December 2009 deadline.
Reagan Malumo
Programme Officer: Media Freedom Monitoring and Research
Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Regional Secretariat
21 Johann Albrecht St
Private Bag 13386
Windhoek
Namibia
Phone: +264 61 232 975
Fax: +264 61 248 016
Mobile: +264 81 311 2626
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