SABC SOC LTD BILL: SLOW PROGRESS WITH DRAFT REVISED VERSION

SABC SOC LTD BILL: SLOW PROGRESS WITH DRAFT REVISED VERSION

• 09 October 2026
• Parliament
• SA Legal Academy

A draft revised South African Broadcasting Company SOC Ltd Bill incorporating a funding model is expected to be gazetted during the fourth quarter of 2026/27 for public comment. This is according to the Department of Communications & Digital Technologies’ 2026/27 annual performance plan, which was presented to the National Assembly committee concerned in April 2026. As far as can be ascertained, there have been no further pronouncements on the Bill.

Referring to the proposed new piece of legislation and related funding model 11 times, the plan nevertheless provides no substantive information on the development process – simply noting the yet-to-be-released draft revised Bill’s significance in moves afoot to ensure ‘the sustainability and financial viability of the public broadcaster’.

A document circulated at the committee’s 6 October 2026 meeting refers to the development of a ‘draft business case’ for the funding model – a task apparently concluded since the related unspecified ‘target’ is reported to have been ‘achieved’. At the time of writing, no further details were available. The meeting was held to consider a raft of annual reports from various entities falling within the department’s jurisdiction, along with one from the department itself.

Presumably, once finalised and tabled in the National Assembly, the revised Bill will replace an iteration introduced in October 2023. Despite having been withdrawn by way of a November 2024 media statement issued by Communications & Digital Technologies Minister Solly Malatsi, the Bill is still before Parliament – concerns about related procedural issues having remained unresolved.

The National Assembly’s Communications & Digital Technologies Committee was briefed in February 2026 on funding model options to be included in the revised Bill, as SA Legal Academy reported at the time.

• 2026/27 departmental annual performance plan (most detailed reference to draft revised Bill on pages 57-59)
• presentation on departmental 2025/26 annual report (reference to draft business case on page 22)
• February 2026 SA Legal Academy report

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