The payment of license fees has been dropping by almost 20% a year for a long time, and now it has been revealed that money that has been collected has not ended up in the coffers of the beleaguered SABC.
According to TimesLive ,Communications minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams revealed that 20 national and 126 provincial departments, 57 state-owned entities and 249 municipality accounts owe the broadcaster a combined R28.2m on TV license fees, while R29.2m is owed to the broadcaster's advertising division.
Ndabeni-Abrahams revealed this in a written parliamentary reply to DA MP Phumzile Van Damme, who wanted details about money owed to the public broadcaster by government institutions.
It came to light that three national departments, 24 provincial government departments, six municipalities and eight SOEs owed the SABC's sales division R29.2m for advertising.
The three national departments that owe just over R13m for advertising are Government communications (GCIS) and the departments of health and trade and industry. Provincial departments owe the SABC R9.2m for advertising and the outstanding amount is R4.5m for SOEs and R2.3m for municipalities.
Paying TV licenses has been a bone of contention for many years now as South Africans buck against a system that wants them to pay up even if they only watch streaming services.
