SABC

SABC BILL OFFICIALLY WITHDRAWN FOLLOWING MEDIA LEAKS

11 November 2024
Communications & Digital Technologies
SA Legal Academy

Please note: On 13 November 2024, during a media briefing on the 23 October and 6 November 2024 Cabinet meetings, Minister in the Presidency Khumbutso Ntshavenhi told journalists that no Bill tabled by a member of the executive may be withdrawn without Cabinet’s prior permission (Eye Witness News). According to the article concerned, the matter is expected to be considered when Cabinet next meets. However, there has since been no official statement confirming the Bill’s status one way or the other.

Communications & Digital Technologies Minister Solly Malatsi has issued a backdated media statement officially announcing his withdrawal of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) Soc Ltd Bill. According to the Minister, provisions in the Bill allowing three years for the development of a ‘sustainable’ SABC funding model do not meet ‘the urgency required to stabilise the broadcaster and risk perpetuating an outdated licensing structure that will not provide the SABC with the necessary resources to fulfil its mandate’. His department ‘will now focus … on developing (a) funding model that provides the SABC with … financial stability and independence’.

The Minister’s decision was leaked in media reports on Sunday 10 November 2024 – among other things prompting National Assembly Communications & Digital Technologies chair Khusela Diko to immediately issue a formal statement on the matter.

In her press release, Diko expressed ‘grave concern’ abut a decision of which she was apparently unaware – nevertheless urging the Department of Communications & Digital Technologies to:

‘accelerate the process of reworking the Bill’, and
‘reintroduce a new version to Parliament within the current financial year’.

This is noting that the Bill’s withdrawal:

could ‘delay the implementation of crucial reforms necessary to save yet another … strategic public institution’, and that
the ‘process underway and agreed ... by the committee … in the Minister’s presence would have provided the committee with a clear way forward to amend the Bill … and subvert any unnecessary delays in … (finalising) this sorely needed legislation’.

In Diko’s view, issues raised by stakeholders during the public participation process were prompted by:

the Bill’s ‘lack of clarity on the (SABC’s) funding model’
‘time limits’ on the President’s appointment of the SABC board
‘the creation of a subsidiary commercial company and board’, and
the potential lack of independence’ in the subsidiary company’s appointment.

She believes the Minister should have prioritised finalising the White Paper on audio and audiovisual media services and online content before ‘canning’ the process, especially ‘given its bearing’ on the Bill’s amendment.

A draft White Paper was gazetted in July 2023 for public comment, as SA Legal Academy reported at the time.

Referring to parliamentary hearings on the Bill in September 2024, Diko’s statement notes that the department ‘was expected to have responded to the issues raised … by the 17th of October 2024’ – including those included in written submissions from the broader public.

The intention of the withdrawn Bill was to:

give effect to:
- two Gauteng High Court rulings
- recommendations emerging from a National Assembly ad hoc committee inquiry into the SABC board, and
- proposed areas of amendment recommended by the SABC
address issues arising from a disconnect between the South African Broadcasting Act, 1999, and the Electronic Communications Act, 2005, and
ensure alignment with:
- the Companies Act, 2008, and
- the Public Finance Management Act, 1999

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SABC BILL OFFICIALLY WITHDRAWN FOLLOWING MEDIA LEAKS

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