Communications and Digital Technologies Minister Solly Malatsi has been accused of misleading parliament about “ongoing engagements” with stakeholders involved in South Africa’s long-delayed broadcast digital migration (BDM) process.
According to media companies and advocacy groups, no such engagements had taken place despite Malatsi’s claims before parliament’s portfolio committee last month that talks with stakeholders were under way in preparation for the analogue switch-off (ASO).
Malatsi and the department’s director-general, Nonkqubela Jordan-Dyani, had presented a progress report to parliament following a court ruling in March that halted the switch-off. However, letters obtained by the Sunday Times from e.tv, Media Monitoring Africa (MMA), and the SOS Support Public Broadcasting Coalition dispute the minister’s version of events.
The letters, sent via the Department of Communications’ lawyers and the state attorney, state that there have been no formal engagements since the Pretoria High Court ruled that it was unlawful for cabinet to set the analogue switch-off date and ordered Sentech to stop cutting analogue signals.
During their parliamentary presentation on September 12, Malatsi and Jordan-Dyani told MPs that “engagements are under way through legal teams of the department and broadcasters” and that meetings were taking place “on a regular basis to deliberate on this matter.”
However, a letter dated September 16 from Nortons Inc, the law firm representing e.tv, contradicted this statement.
“It should be pointed out that the correct position is that there have also not been any formal and mandated engagements between the minister’s legal team and e.tv’s legal team,” the letter read.
It further noted that “at most, there have been two informal discussions between senior counsel but without any mandate or formal proposal.”
Similarly, Rosengarten & Feinberg, acting for MMA and SOS Support Public Broadcasting, sent a letter to the department on October 3 raising concerns about Malatsi’s statements. They alleged that Malatsi’s attempt to initiate engagement on September 15—a day after his parliamentary presentation—appeared to be a reaction to scrutiny rather than evidence of ongoing talks.
“At the outset, we hold the view that it was not coincidental that you wrote to the parties in the proceedings on September 15, 2025. This was the working day after the department made a presentation to the portfolio committee,” the letter stated.
Responding to the allegations, acting departmental spokesperson Frans Mthombeni said Malatsi had been under the impression that engagements were already taking place.
“The minister had, some months prior to reporting to the parliamentary portfolio committee, instructed senior counsel to engage with his counterparts to explore a non-litigious approach to the analogue switch-off and had been advised that discussions were under way,” Mthombeni said.
He explained that the department’s senior counsel was officially mandated on July 17 to seek an out-of-court settlement with broadcasters.
When asked about the timing of Malatsi’s letters to BDM stakeholders, Mthombeni said the correspondence had been “long prepared” and was not prompted by parliamentary backlash.
“Nothing should be read into the timing, as the minister had already prepared letters to all broadcasters’ attorneys after learning that little progress had been made by the department’s counsel,” he said.
Mthombeni added that the department had been considering “the best way to resolve this matter effectively and in line with the court judgment,” hence the decision to pursue settlement discussions.
Last month, the Sunday Times reported that the department requested an additional R803 million from the National Treasury to complete the delayed television digital migration programme.
Meanwhile, parliament’s communications and digital technologies portfolio committee chair, Khusela Diko, confirmed that the committee had received correspondence from the legal representatives of eMedia, MMA, and SOS suggesting the minister may have misled parliament.
“We have written to the minister seeking clarity on the allegations and sought a legal opinion from parliamentary legal services. Once these have been received, these will be placed before the committee for consideration,” Diko said.
Mthombeni revealed that the department had since appointed a new senior counsel and instructed its attorneys to reinitiate contact with broadcasters’ legal teams.
The digital migration project has faced numerous setbacks over the past decade, missing several deadlines since the International Telecommunication Union’s 2015 mandate for the switch-off of analogue broadcasting.
