The department of communications & digital technologies has appointed BMI-TechKnowledge Group (BMIT) to develop a new funding model for the SABC in what could prove to be a decisive move for the future of South Africa’s struggling public broadcaster.
BMIT, a longstanding ICT research and advisory firm, has been tasked with addressing the SABC’s most pressing question: how to pay for its public service mandate in a digital, on-demand world where audiences have largely abandoned the old TV licence system.
The SABC’s financial woes are not new. Years of mismanagement, corruption scandals and political interference left the broadcaster teetering on the brink of collapse in the late 2010s, forcing government to inject billions of rand in bailouts.
Advertising revenue, once the lifeblood of the SABC, has been undercut by a splintering and fast-expanding digital media environment, as well as streaming competitors.
BMIT must apply its expertise in economic modelling and market analysis to tackle a problem that has dogged the SABC for years: how to pay for its public mandate in an era of collapsing TV licence compliance and shrinking advertising revenues. Proposals for a household levy or levies on streaming service providers like Netflix have been met with fierce resistance.
Yet for millions of South Africans – particularly in rural and underserved areas – the SABC remains the primary source of news and information.
BMIT’s recommendations, and how parliament responds to the proposals, will determine whether the broadcaster finally gets a more stable foundation.
Political battles
Political battles between the ANC and its main coalition partner in government, the Democratic Alliance, could still get in the way of a long-term solution to the public broadcaster’s funding woes. The communications ministry is headed by Solly Malatsi, a senior DA MP, while parliament’s communications portfolio committee is chaired by a senior ANC MP, Khusela Diko. The two have clashed publicly over Malatsi’s decision last year to withdraw the bill and on other key issues in the communications portfolio.
Malatsi’s decision last year to withdraw the SABC Bill, citing the need for further consultation, was met with strong resistance in the ANC but was welcomed by broadcasting industry role players who argued the draft bill failed to resolve the central issue of sustainable funding.
Read: Government steps in to resolve SABC, Sentech tariff feud
With the SABC under severe financial pressure, and the public increasingly spurning the unpopular TV licence model, the focus will now shift to drafting a credible funding framework. – © 2025 NewsCentral Media
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