SABC wants Netflix and DStv to collect TV licences, Mzansi reacts

- SABC now wants Netflix and MultiChoice to collect TV licences on their behalf, according to a presentation to Parliament by Deputy Communications Minister Pinky Kekana

- On top of that, the SABC also wants South Africans to pay for TV licences for devices other than televisions, including mobile phones

- South Africans were not happy with the suggestions and they dragged the SABC on social media

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It's no secret that the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is struggling to stay afloat. With debt amounting to billions, the broadcaster is trying everything in its power to keep its head above water.

Now, the SABC has come up with another way to generate money and force South Africans to pay their TV licences.

Deputy Communications Minister Pinky Kekana told Parly's Portfolio Committee on Communications that the definition of a TV Licence should be expanded.

Kekana suggested that South Africans now pay a TV licence fee for devices other than televisions - including cellphones. This means that even though someone might not even own a TV, he or she would be forced to pay for a TV license.

On top of that, SABC wants streaming services like Netflix and or subscription services like MultiChoice, which owns DStv, to collect TV licences on its behalf.

This will force South Africans to pay for TV licences even if they don't watch SABC, Channel24 reported.

SABC has since started trending on Twitter as South Africans expressed their views on the broadcaster's plans to use TV licence fees like "traffic fines".

Twitter user, @dramadelinquent, commented:

"@NetflixSA if you give into this bs I'll cancel with you. Easy peasy."

Another tweep, @mbulie2, added:

"We must pay for the WiFi to watch the Netflix, so should we just watch on our phones? Then we must pay phone licences? Mxm."

Meanwhile, in other news, Briefly.co.za reported Hulisani Ravele has taken to social media to share her thoughts on the recently-launched KwaZulu-Natal Entertainment Awards. The awards will take place on 15 December at the Durban ICC.

Entertainment commentator Phil Mphela shared that category winners will bag R100 000 each and the overall winner will laugh all the way to the bank with a R500 000 cheque. Hulisani recently took to Twitter to express that she's not impressed with the money that will be spent on the awards.

She believes it could do more for poor communities in the province. The TV personality reacted to Mphela's post:

"Who's paying? If it's govt, this is a spit in the face of dilapidated schools, kids who cross dangerous rivers and walk for kms to get to school, students who can't afford tuition. I'm all for celebrating those who do well, the arts, mara please, this is wasteful expenditure."

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Source: Briefly News