Communications and digital technologies minister Solly Malatsi’s department misled parliament about “ongoing engagements” with broadcast digital migration (BDM) stakeholders which were yet to resume, media companies and interested parties said.
Last month, departmental director-general Nonkqubela Jordan-Dyani led a presentation before parliament’s portfolio committee in which they claimed engagements with BDM stakeholders were already under way in preparation for the long-overdue analogue switch-off (ASO).
Jordan-Dyani was giving a progress update after a court defeat in March put the the brakes on plans to switch the analogue signal.
However, in two separate letters, which the Sunday Times has seen, key stakeholders e.tv, Media Monitoring Africa and SOS Support Public Broadcasting, disputed Malatsi and his team’s version of events.
The letters written to the department via its lawyers and the state attorney’s office stated that since the court judgment interdicting the March 31 analogue switch-off, there had not been any formal engagement between the parties.
A ruling by the Pretoria high court in favour of e.tv stated that it was unlawful for cabinet to determine the analogue switch-off date. The court also stopped Sentech from switching off analogue signals.
On September 12, Jordan-Dyani told the portfolio committee that “engagements are under way through legal teams of the department and broadcasters”.
The presentation stated that there had been meetings on “a regular basis to deliberate on this (ASO) matter.”
A letter sent by lawyers representing e.tv, Nortons Inc, dated September 16, raised concerns about the claims made in parliament.
“It should be pointed out that the correct position is that there have also not been any formal and mandated engagements between the minister’s legal team and e.tv’s legal team,” the letter stated.
It also indicated that “at most, there have been two informal discussions on two occasions between senior counsel but without any mandate or formal proposal.”
Lawyers Rosengarten & Feinberg, representing Media Monitoring Africa and SOS Support Public Broadcasting Coalition, wrote to the department on October 3 raising the same concerns.
They accused Malatsi, who wrote to them on September 15, of attempting to establish engagements which he had told parliament about during the presentation.
“At the outset, we hold the view that it was not coincidental that you wrote to the parties in the proceedings on September 15 2025. This was the working day after the department… made a presentation [the portfolio committee],” stated the letter.
The department told the Sunday Times that Malatsi had been under the impression that engagements had commenced.
“The minister had, some months prior to reporting to the parliamentary portfolio committee, instructed senior counsel to engage with his counterparts to explore a non-litigious approach to analogue switch-off and had been advised that discussions were under way,” said acting departmental spokesperson Frans Mthombeni.
He said the department’s senior counsel, through its attorneys, was mandated on July 17 to engage its counterparts at the broadcasters for an out-of-court settlement.
Asked about the coincidence in relation to Malatsi sending letters to BDM stakeholders on the next working day after telling the portfolio committee about regular meetings with them, Mthombeni said the letters were long prepared.
“Nothing should be read into the timing, as the minister had already prepared letters to all broadcasters’ attorneys after learning that little progress had been made by the department’s counsel,” Mthombeni said.
He said the department spent some time considering the best way to resolve this matter effectively and in line with the judgment of the court, hence the out-of-court settlement option.
“The department was also led to believe that engagements between senior counsel were taking place.”
Last month, the Sunday Times reported that the department had asked National Treasury for an additional R803m to complete the delayed television digital migration programme.
Approached for comment, parliament’s communications and digital technologies portfolio committee chair Khusela Diko said the committee has also “been copied on and received correspondence from the legal representatives of Media Monitoring Africa and the SOS Coalition as well as eMedia, which suggests that the minister and/or the department may have misled parliament.”
“We have written to the minister seeking clarity on the allegations and sought a legal opinion from parliamentary legal services. Once these have been received, these will be placed before the committee for consideration, and thus I would not wish to comment further than that at this stage,” Diko said.
Mthombeni said their legal team had appointed a new senior counsel and its attorneys “have again been instructed to reach out to the broadcasters’ legal teams.”
The department has over the past decade missed several switch-off deadlines since the International Telecommunication Union’s mandated June 2015 migration deadline.
The story has been updated to incorporate new information.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.