4 October 2023, Myles Illidge, Mybroad band
William Bird, director of Media Monitoring Africa, said government and the SABC tend to be moving away from the idea of a household tax — a funding scheme supported by DStv operator MultiChoice and civil society groups.
During an interview with 702 on Tuesday, 3 October 2023, before the bill was released, Bird said variances in two versions of a draft white paper about the issue indicate where things could be heading.
Bird explained that the first version of the draft white paper implied a household levy or tax to be paid by all households with the ability to access SABC content, regardless of whether they watch it or even have a TV set.
“Now it seems as though they may have gone for some kind of option that may be speaking to SARS as an additional tax to be collected… Another is the idea that public commercial services will support the public mandate of the SABC,” said Bird.