KHATHU RAMUKUMBA | Saving the SABC is saving the country’s soul

Without an appropriate and strategic government intervention for our public broadcaster’s financial sustainability, South Africans stand to lose their voice and identity, risking the viability of our young democracy. For decades, our public broadcaster has carried the voices, stories and languages of this country into every home without distinction based on socio-economic status or geographical location. However today, that voice stands to falter. The SABC remains one of the few institutions that reflect the soul of South Africa, and we need to ensure that it is adequately equipped to fulfil its public service mandate.

The SABC stands at a crossroads, caught between the rise of global streaming platforms, the dominance of multinational media and the structural constraints of a funding model designed for a long-gone era. This is not simply a business problem, but a national one. If the SABC fails, South Africa will lose far more than a broadcaster. We will lose one of the few remaining spaces that reflects and represents the lives of all South Africans.

The challenges are real and intensifying. Advertising revenues continue to decline given the emergence of unregulated social media and streaming platforms, while fewer households pay TV licences.

Advertising revenues continue to decline given the emergence of unregulated social media and streaming platforms, while fewer households pay TV licences. On the other hand, production and signal costs continue to rise.

On the other hand, production and signal costs continue to rise. Furthermore, audience habits have shifted irreversibly toward streaming and mobile platforms. Against this backdrop, the SABC, with its constitutional mandate to inform, educate and entertain, operates under a heavily limited resources base, public scrutiny and mounting expectations. This, without the correct funding model is an almost impossible balance to sustain.

The SABC’s reliance on TV licence fees as the main source of funding is unsustainable. It assumes that most South Africans watch television on a single device in the lounge. Furthermore, this funding model ignores the radio offering provided by the SABC. The reality is that many South Africans consume content on their phones, laptops and gaming consoles, often streaming international series, podcasts or short-form videos. The law that governs the SABC’s revenue model has simply not kept pace with how audiences actually live. Without a new, enforceable and fair funding system, the public broadcaster will remain trapped in a cycle of crisis and possibly face extinction.

The law that governs the SABC’s revenue model has simply not kept pace with how audiences actually live. Without a new, enforceable and fair funding system, the public broadcaster will remain trapped in a cycle of crisis and possibly face extinction

It’s easy to dismiss the SABC as a relic, but that would be a grave mistake. When floods devastate communities, when elections approach, when misinformation spreads online — it is still the SABC that reaches every corner of the country, in all 11 official languages. Commercial broadcasters, for all their strengths, are not designed to serve the public good. Their reach depends on profit and subscription, the SABC’s depends on the principle of universal coverage and public service. To allow it to fail is to accept that millions of South Africans, particularly in rural and low-income areas, will be cut off from reliable information that is educative, entertaining and representative.

The SABC does not need endless bailouts. What it needs is a deliberate, innovative, structured and sustainable funding intervention that recognises its public value and secures its independence.

That SABC’s proposed interventions include:

1. A modern funding model: Replace the outdated licence system with a universal, tech-neutral public media levy possibly collected through the South African Revenue Service;
2. Legislated stability: Guarantee appropriate public funding from the fiscus through law, according to the public mandate delivery required;
3. Digital transformation: Accelerate investment in SABC+, turning it into a true digital platform that delivers South African content across devices and borders; and
4. Cultural investment: Protect and promote local storytelling, languages, traditions, cultures and talent through targeted public-interest content funding.

This is not charity, it is a commitment to national identity, nation building and the defence of our young democracy.

Across the world, public broadcasters are under strain, but where governments act decisively, they thrive. The BBC’s enforceable licence fee and direct government funding, Germany’s household levy and Canada’s parliamentary grants all ensure that citizens continue to have access to trusted, independent journalism, education and entertainment. If South Africa fails to act, we will move in the opposite direction toward a future where our media diet is dictated by algorithms and corporate strategies from across our boarders. That would be a profound cultural and identity loss. A country that cannot tell its own stories soon forgets who it is.

Every crisis the SABC endures chips away at public trust. But the ultimate cost of inaction will be democratic, not financial. A weak or absent public broadcaster leaves the information space vulnerable to misinformation, propaganda and most importantly the exclusion of the poor and marginalised. The SABC remains one of the few institutions capable of uniting South Africans through shared experience. To preserve that role, we need courage from policymakers and imagination from industry partners. We need a national consensus that public broadcasting is a public good, worthy of investment and protection.

I write this not as a plea for rescue, but as an appeal for vision. The SABC’s future cannot depend on nostalgia or survival instincts alone. It must be underpinned by policy, by purpose and by pride. If the government acts now, wisely and decisively, it can ensure that the SABC remains a living institution that secures universal access and is modern, independent and proudly South African. If it does not, we risk a future where our children’s voices are drowned out by foreign ones, and our stories fade quietly into silence. The SABC’s survival is not just about broadcasting, it is about belonging and that is something no nation can afford to lose.

• Ramukumba is chair of the SABC board (writing in his personal capacity)