The Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) yesterday clarified his findings against the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) with respect to licence fees.
The clarification is that SABC did not record licence fees revenue on an accrual basis as required by the accounting standard. SABC did account for licence fees except that they recorded the revenue on a cash basis. The AGSA was unable to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence due to the absence of systems to maintain records of licence fees on accrual basis.
We therefore call upon South Africans not to be misled into thinking that the SABC has not accounted for licence fees and as a result doubt the need to pay licence fees. Licence fees are a huge enabler and contribution to the country having a public broadcaster. Licence fees assist the SABC to educate, inform and entertain South Africans.
The Broadcasting Act requires citizens to pay TV licence fees and paying these fees is the right thing to do. With the launch of Freevision and the advent of Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT), it is hoped that all citizen will access the SABC and the diverse content reflecting all South Africans and public service programming.
For media enquiries or interviews with the Chairperson, contact:
Faith Kwaza
Parliamentary Communication Services
Cell: 072 122 0371
Tel: 021 403 8062
Email: fkwaza@parliament.gov.za
