TV licence payment fees in South Africa are required by any person or entity that owns and/or uses a television set. Fees can be paid at a Post Office, ABSA bank, FNB, Game stores, Makro stores and other places nationwide as well as online for convenience. Believe it or not, ANY device designed or adapted to receive a broadcast television signal requires licensing, including a computer with a tuner card and if you can get Isidingo to broadcast on your Corn Flakes box you will require one for that too! The annual cost for domestic, business, dealer, lessor and mobile licences at the time of writing is R225.00 per annum and there are in actual fact six types available in South Africa which are…
Types of licences:
- Domestic – also known as private, for households and/or individuals
- Concessionary domestic
- Business – for most businesses
- Dealer – for businesses that sell TV sets
- Lessor – for businesses that rent out sets
- Mobile – for private televisions in any vehicle, vessel or aircraft used for private purposes
The SABC sends out renewal notices for TV licence fees about two months before the payment is due although individuals and businesses that do not receive this notice cannot use this as an excuse for late renewal or failure to do so. The notice is really just a form of friendly reminder to help people pay on time in an effort to avoid penalties. It is possible to pay the cost in monthly installments but by paying annually the customer pays a bit less over all.
Should a person fail to pay then overdue accounts are handed over to the SABC’s lawyers for debt collection. Late payments on an account incur a 10% penalty per month up to a maximum of 100% per annum. It is also illegal to use somebody elses TV license to buy a television set from a shop and this is considered a crime which can land both the offender and the shop owner in trouble. Although many consider it to be quite a hassle, an un-necessary payment and even try and refuse to pay giving excuses like “There is so much rubbish on anyway, we don’t feel the need to have one”, it is part of the South African law to pay TV licence fees regularly.