Court confirms longstanding warnings from broadcasters, civil society
Michael Markovitz
On 27 March 2025, the High Court in Pretoria granted interim relief to e.tv, Media Monitoring Africa and the SOS Coalition, suspending the government’s plan to switch off analogue television on 31 March.
It’s the second time South Africa’s courts have blocked a premature analogue switch-off.
The judgment doesn’t just pause a date. It confirms a pattern of mismanagement, policy drift and legal overreach that has haunted South Africa’s digital migration for more than a decade.
In my Substack piece Broken Promise, and in e.tv’s special feature The Switch Off, I argued that Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) has failed in its core mission. Despite billions spent, DTT remains the smallest and most expensive platform, reaching only a fraction of South African households.
Government had promised over five million free set-top boxes for indigent households. A decade later, fewer than 1.3m have been installed – if that figure can be trusted.
Now, the courts have weighed in again. This time, their language is unequivocal.
Justice Selby Baqwa found that the analogue switch-off decision was not only unlawfully made by Cabinet – instead of the Minister, who is legally responsible for determining the date – but also irrational and procedurally unfair
There was no proper consultation with stakeholders about the March 2025 deadline, and no evidence that government had plans to protect the more than 1.4m people who would lose TV access.
Many of them are among the country’s poorest and most vulnerable households. (Note: Although the actual number of affected people is likely well over 10m, the figure of 1.4m is now common cause in the litigation)
Justice Baqwa found that the Minister has over a decade repeatedly promised indigent households that ASO will not sever their access to television access. The promise was made seriously and lawfully.
(Legal) principle therefore obliges government officials not to renege on such promises and to fulfil the legitimate expectations raised as a result thereof regarding the constitutional rights to freedom of expression which include the right to receive information and the right to equality.
The ruling reinforces what civil society, the SABC and community broadcasters have long argued. A premature switch-off would cause ‘irreparable harm’, including severe financial losses for public broadcasters and a collapse in access to news, education and public information for millions.
The SABC’s own affidavit describes how previous switch-offs in five provinces led to ‘major loss of audience and revenue’, threatening its sustainability.
This wasn’t just poor planning. As the court found, it was a breach of constitutional rights – including the right to freedom of expression, access to information and equality
The judge cited Khusela Sangoni, Chair of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Communications, who had already called the process an ‘unmitigated disaster’. And rightly so. As I said in Broken Promise, if DTT were a business, it would have collapsed long ago.
Government’s refusal to pivot to a more realistic, satellite-first policy has resulted in even more public money being poured into a failed venture.
The court has now given the country one last opportunity to get this right. The analogue switch-off will remain suspended until the full review (Part B of the application) is heard. But the writing is already on the wall.
It’s time for government to accept that DTT has failed. Scrap it. Invest in satellite migration. Explore data zero-rating for public channels. It’s time to deliver on that broken promise. Anything less would betray the rights of millions of South Africa’s poorest households.
- Markovitz is a leading expert on governance, media and tech policy. He heads the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) Media Leadership Think Tank, an independent research and advocacy platform providing solutions for media in support of democracy
- This piece was first published here
