Johannesburg, August 04: Television licence fees will increase 11%, the SABC said on Tuesday.
The increase, effective from last Saturday, was approved by Communications Minister Siphiwe Nyanda, SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said in a statement.
“The annual fee for a domestic, business, dealer and lessor licence will increase by R25 – from R225 to R250.
“Concessionary TV licences, granted to those over the age of 70, as well as to receivers of social grants from the State, will be increased by a mere 8% – from R65 to R70 per annum.”
This was the third tariff increase in the last 11 years.
“Had the SABC been allowed annual inflation-related tariff adjustments since 1998, the current R250 fee would now have been R426… The new tariff works out to less than 70c a day”, said Kganyago.
The public broadcaster receives television licence revenue to enable it to provide locally-produced radio and television programmes in line with its public service mandate.
—-Agencies