The South African Broadcasting Corporation can legally send as many debt collection SMSes as it deems necessary without breaching South Africa’s harassment laws, Barnard Incorporated Attorneys senior associate Anneke Lotter said.
“The Protection against Harassment Act 17 of 2011 defines ‘harassment’ as ‘directly or indirectly engaging in conduct that he or she knows or ought to know causes or will cause harm to another person’,” she said. The payment of TV licence fees is mandated in terms of S27 of the Broadcasting Act 4 of 1999, and anyone who contravenes the act is subject to fines set out in S27.
The Broadcasting Act specifies that the maximum penalty a court could impose on an individual found guilty of failing to pay their TV licence is a R500 fine or up to six months in prison.