SABC gets no Treasury funding to cover 2026 election
The SABC’s R120 million request for dedicated 2026 local government election coverage funding was not approved, raising concerns about the scale of its public-service coverage.
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has been denied Treasury funding to cover the upcoming local government elections on November 4, 2026. This was revealed by Communications and Digital Technologies Minister Solly Malatsi in response to parliamentary questions from IFP MP Alco Ngobese. The SABC had requested a R120 million allocation for election coverage, but no funds have been made available from the National Treasury.
Malatsi explained that despite submitting the funding requirement through the 2026/27 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) process and the 2025/26 MTEF adjustment process, the government did not provide the requested funds. The department remains reliant on budgetary processes for the necessary financing. The SABC is currently exploring new funding models following research firm BMIT Knowledge Group's appointment in September 2025 to develop a new model due to declining revenue and financial challenges.
The National Treasury allocated R728.8 million to the SABC for subsidies in the 2026/27 financial year, but this was intended for public broadcasting mandate, programme productions, and Channel Africa. Additionally, R700 million was allocated through the Special Appropriations Bill to address the SABC's liquidity issues resulting from a dispute over unpaid signal distribution fees.
The SABC had expressed concerns about the need for increased coverage during election years to provide fair and adequate coverage for all political parties and candidates, as well as reaching every part of the country. The SABC requested a R120 million budget for local government elections, but this was not allocated in the 2026 budget.
CEO Nomsa Chabeli stated that a significant amount of work was underway for editorial and regulatory processes. The Portfolio Committee on Communications and Digital Technologies chairperson, Khusela Sangoni-Diko, emphasized that the SABC cannot fulfill its critical public service and democratic mandate while being chronically defunded, potentially leading to uneven profiling of political parties in coverage.
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