The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) this week again raised concerns about its inability to cover the elections if funding for election coverage is not provided.
The Group CEO, Ms Nomsa Chabeli, told the Select Committee on Economic Development and Trade that it was important for the SABC to be able to provide comprehensive coverage, as it was still required to provide a plurality of voices for South Africans to be better informed and fully participate in democratic processes. “When it comes to the national operations centre, but in terms of the complexity of the local government election, it is that we have to offer that wall-to-wall coverage in a far more exhaustive manner,” Ms Chabeli said. “We are still required to provide the platforms for the political parties to be able to speak to South African voters, and get their messages across. Unfortunately, we have not received the funding from the National Treasury, and therefore it is required that we plan in the absence of funding.”
She said the public broadcaster is now planning coverage within its affordability and maintains it can deploy. “The ability to afford the deployment is still there should the funding become available, but sitting here nearly three weeks before the start, we realise that the window is fast closing,” Ms Chabeli said. “But for us it is important to reinforce commitment to ensuring that we provide credible, impartial access to election coverage which is supported by these realistic plans.”
As the SABC presented its annual plan to the committee, Members heard that the public broadcaster achieved an unqualified audit outcome for the first time in 14 years and that it will soon release its financial results to the public. It also heard that performance has improved significantly against the targets set in the corporate plan.
The committee had earlier lamented Sentech's late submission of presentations. The Chairperson of the committee, Ms Sonja Boshoff, said she did not understand the disregard for committee work and sought an explanation. “[The late submission of presentations] hampers the Members’ ability to conduct effective oversight of entities,” she said.
Members sought clarity on several other issues, including TV licence revenue collection, the migration from analogue to digital and why the process stalled for over 15 years, and the classification of the SABC as a Public Benefit Organisation. One Member, Mr Nico Pienaar, said the TV licence collection is not working and we need an alternative funding model. “Have you considered reclassifying the SABC as a public benefit organisation?” he asked.
Another Member, Mr Bones Modise, said that whatever Parliament decides to do, the vision should be to save the SABC. “The legislation is outdated. What are we doing to save the SABC? That interaction is very important; we need to save the SABC.” He proposed a meeting early next year with the SABC, where it will be afforded an audience to identify areas for intervention.
The committee will later receive a briefing from Sentech.
Sibongile Maputi
15 October 2026
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