The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC; , SAUK) is the public broadcaster in South Africa, and provides 19 radio stations (AM/FM) as well as six television broadcasts and three OTT Services to the general public. It is one of the largest of South Africa's state-owned enterprises and the biggest state broadcaster in Africa.
Opposition politicians and civil society often criticise the SABC, accusing it of being a mouthpiece for whichever political party is in majority power, thus currently the ruling African National Congress; during the apartheid era it was accused of playing the same role for the National Party government.
Company history Early years
Radio broadcasting in South Africa began in 1923, under the auspices of South African Railways, before three radio services were licensed: the Association of Scientific and Technical Societies (AS&TS) in Johannesburg, the Cape Peninsular Publicity Association in Cape Town and the Durban Corporation, which began broadcasting in 1924.Culture and Customs of South Africa, Funso S. Afọlayan, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004, pages 114–115
These merged into the African Broadcasting Company in 1927, owned by I.W. Schlesinger, a wealthy businessman, but on 1 August 1936, they were sold to the SABC, established that year through an Act of Parliament.Introduction to Public Relations and Advertising, D F du Plessis, Juta and Company Ltd, 2000 p. 89 The SABC took over the African Broadcasting Company's staff and assets. It maintained a state monopoly on radio until the launch in December 1979 of Capital Radio 604, then Radio 702 in 1980.South African media policy: debates of the 1990s, P. Eric Louw, Anthroppos, 1993, p. 99 Although the subscription-funded television service M-Net launched in 1986, the SABC had a monopoly on free-to-air television until the launch of e.tv in 1998.
During National Party rule from 1948, it came under increasing accusations of being biased towards the ruling party. At one time most of its senior management were members of the Broederbond, the Afrikaner secret society, and later from institutions like Stellenbosch University.
The SABC was a radio service until the introduction of television in 1976. There were three main SABC radio stations: the English Service (later known as Radio South Africa), the Afrikaans Service (later known as Radio Suid-Afrika and Afrikaans Stereo) and the commercial station, Springbok Radio.Africa Institute Bulletin, Volume 11, 1973, p. 155
Programmes on the English and Afrikaans services mainly consisted of news; plays such as The Forsyte Saga, Story of an African Farm, and The Summons, written and produced in South Africa; serious talk shows; BBC radio shows; children's programmes, such as Sound Box; and light music featuring South African orchestras, arrangers, musicians and singers. Accomplished musicians such as pianist and composer Charles Segal featured on all three stations regularly in shows like Piano Playtime. Accordionist Nico Carstens was a regular on the Afrikaans programmes.
Recent history
An IBA report on the state of the broadcasting industry in South Africa was released on 29 August 1995. Recommendations were given for the SABC to lose one of its three television channels, with the network being used for private television, demanding the creation of two or three private networks. The broadcaster would be restructured, and Sentech would be separated. Other recommendations included the sale of seven radio stations, while being granted eleven radio stations, nine of which in individual Bantu languages, provisions of an hour a day of regional programming windows on television and radio, at an estimated cost of 262 million rand/year, reintroduction of a third channel but on satellite television and the provision of an "education and information driven service" to the subcontinental region."Relaunching the SABC", Africa Film & TV Magazine, nº. 7, October–November 1995
All of the channels were set to be rebranded by March 1996, in line with a restructuring that began in the 1993 CODESA talks. Preliminary changes were set to take place in 1993, but were delayed after the elections in April 1994."More job losses, all channels rebranded", Africa Film & TV Magazine, nº. 7, October–November 1995
In November 1995, Africa Monitor reported that the SABC was in talks with Channel 4 to deliver its television channels by satellite, to cover the entire population. Up until then, it was believed that a quarter of the national population received at least one of the three channels. By January 1996 a fourth channel carrying Channel 4's programmes was set to begin, and would convert to digital in July 1996, with the aim of creating an eight-channel pay-TV service."SABC/Channel 4 satellite TV venture", Africa Film & TV Magazine, nº. 8, January–February 1996
At the end of 1995, the SABC lost its contract with Sky News. Footage on news bulletins broadcast by the corporation's television channels was now supplied by BBC World."Sky loses news slot to BBC", Africa Film & TV Magazine, nº. 8, January–February 1996
On 4 February 1996, two years after the ANC came to power, the SABC reorganised its three TV channels, so as to be more representative of different language groups. The repositioning of the networks gave the SABC's television service the chance to be "the new voice and the new vision of the rainbow nation". Under the new structure, SABC TV was compared to a "tower of Babel" regarding SABC 1 and SABC 2's programming structure, in the eleven official languages, while SABC 3 was all in English. The relaunch party was also heavily criticised by some, such as Angela Van Schalkwyk, who mentioned that an American face presented the new television offer."1, 2, 3, SABC!", Africa Film & TV Magazine, nº. 9, April–June 1996 This resulted in the downgrading of Afrikaans by reducing its airtime from 50% to 15%, a move that alienated many Afrikaans speakers. Starting July 1997, the corporation was commercialised.SABC's radical changes
In late 1998, the SABC finally started broadcasting its channels on DStv, per an agreement with Sentech to convert its channels to digital. The agreement encompassed its three national terrestrial networks, Bop TV and its thirteen radio stations, with the hopes of starting two pan-continental television networks, an entertainment channel and a news channel."SABC bites the bullet and goes digital", Africa Film & TV Magazine, nº. 19, November 1998-January 1999
The launch of e.tv prompted the SABC to restructure its three television channels in late September 1998. The strategies were due to e.tv's promise that the service would be a "full-spectrum" channel as opposed to the niche programming of both the SABC and M-Net. SABC 1 repositioned itself as an entertainment channel for South African youth and young adults, SABC 2 would carry content related to educational and social issues from the rest of Africa to South African audiences, SABC 3 concentrated on a mix of news, current affairs and entertainment."SABC TV restructures to meet competition", Africa Film & TV Magazine, nº. 19, November 1998-January 1999 Two satellite channels, available on DStv, opened on 16 November 1998, SABC Africa and Best of Africa (later renamed Africa2Africa)."Finally... news channel for Africa", Africa Film & TV Magazine, nº. 20, February–April 1999
In line with its ambitions to be "the pulse of Africa's creative spirit" (SABC's tagline at the turn of the millennium), the SABC opened up to protocols and co-operation agreements with partners such as URTNA, FRU and the Television Trust for the Environment, eyeing in at the rest of Africa."Entertainment on Best of Africa", Africa Film & TV Magazine, nº. 20, February–April 1999
On 8 August 2003, the SABC unveiled its current logo, coinciding with the Your SABC campaign, which was unveiled on its three television channels at 7:30pm that day. Simultaneously, the Topsport brand was ditched in favour of SABC Sport.South Africa: SABC sets to work on hearts and minds. (2003, Aug 12). BBC Monitoring Media
The SABC has since been accused of favouring the ruling ANC party, mostly in news. It remains dominant in the broadcast media.
Criticism intensified around 2003–2005, when it was accused of a wide range of shortcomings including self-censorship, lack of objectivity and selective news coverage.
On 20 October 2020, SABC and the government were in discussion to get TV and streaming providers in South Africa to collect TV licence on their behalf.
On 27 March 2021, SABC and eMedia Investments expanded their partnership which allowed OpenView customers to receive 3 additional channels as well as their 19 radio stations.
Leaders Director General of the SABC:
Surname Name From To Caprara René Silvio 1936 1948 Roos Gideon Daniel 1948 1959 Meyer Pieter Johannes 1959 1980 De Villiers Steve 1980 1983 Eksteen Riaan 1983 1988Harmse Wynand 1988 1994 Chairman of the SABC Board:
Surname Name From To Matsepe-Casaburri Ivy Florence 1994 1996 Zulu Paulus 1996 2000 Maphai Thabane Vincent 2000 2003 Funde Sonwabo Eddie 2003 2008Mkhonza Khanyi 2008 2009Charnley Irene20092009 Ngubane Baldwin Sipho 2010 2013 Tshabalala Zandile Ellen 2013 2014 Maguvhe Mbulaheni Obert 2014 2017MakhathiniBongumusa Emmanuel 2017 2022RamukumbaKhathutshelo Mike 2023
CEOs + Chief executive officers of the SABCTerm Name1994–1998Sisulu, Z.1998–2000Mbatha, H.2000Khuzwayo, C.2000-2005Matlare, P.2002–2008Mpofu, D.2008–2009Mampone, G.2009–2011Mokoetle, S.2011–2014Mokhobo, L.2014–2015Motsoeneng, H.2015Matlala, F.2015–2016Matthews, J.2017–2023Mxakwe, M.2023–presentChabeli, N.
Radio
Establishment Following its establishment in 1936, the SABC established services in what were then the country's official languages, English and Afrikaans, with the Afrikaans service being established in 1937.RSG celebrates 75 years , SABC, 29 March 2012, Broadcasts in languages such as Zulu, Xhosa, Sesotho and Tswana followed in 1940.
Springbok Radio Springbok Radio, the SABC's first commercial radio service, started broadcasting on 1 May 1950.Broadcasting in South Africa, Keyan G. Tomaselli Currey, 1989, page 197 Bilingual in English and Afrikaans, it broadcast from the Johannesburg Centre for hours a week.Press, Film, Radio, Volume 4, Unesco, 1950, page 435 The service proved to be so popular with advertisers that at the time of its launch, commercial time had been booked well in advance.
The station featured a wide variety of programming, such as morning talk and news, game shows, soap operas like Basis Bravo, children's programming, music request programmes, top-ten music, talent shows and other musical entertainment. One popular Saturday noontime comedy show was Telefun Time, whose hosts would phone various people and conjure up situation comedy, a similar brand of humour to the films of Leon Schuster.Scrutiny 2, Volumes 1–2, Department of English, University of South Africa, 1996
By 1985, Springbok Radio was operating at a heavy loss.Debates of Parliament: Hansard, Volume 8, Issues 19–21, 1988, page 12123 After losing many listeners with the handing over of its shortwave frequencies to Radio 5 and facing competition from television, it ceased broadcasting on 31 December 1985.Springbok Radio Revisited , SABC
SABC News Service