19 March 2025, Nkosinathi Ndlovu, TechCentral
Media industry lobby groups Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) and the SOS Support Public Broadcasting Coalition have accused communications minister Solly Malatsi of “lowballing” estimates of the number of South Africans who will be adversely affected by government’s planned termination of analogue broadcasts at the end of this month.
The accusation was made by legal counsel for MMA and SOS in joint representations to the high court in Pretoria on Tuesday. The two media industry bodies are the second and third respondents, respectively, in a case brought to the court by broadcaster e.tv, which claims that the 31 March analogue switch-off (ASO) deadline is premature and was made without consulting media industry stakeholders.
Speaking on behalf of MMA and SOS, advocate Nick Ferreira told the court:
“The minister’s lowball figure is some 391 513 households, which must be multiplied by 3.2 individuals – according to Statistics South Africa – which gives you roughly 1.3 million people. That is the lowest possible figure of people who will be plunged into television blackout.