TV LICENCE DEADLINE EXTENDED

MBABANE – People who were losing sleep over the non-payment of their TV licences can temporarily rest easy as they have been given an extension.

After several raids were conducted since Monday this week, the Swazi Television Licence Collection Consortium has given TV owners a 30 day extension to settle their debts.
The announcement which will be welcomed by many was made by attorney Sidumo Mdladla, who is a member of the consortium known as SVNet, during a press conference held yesterday at lunchtime.

Mdladla said the 30-day extension was meant to allow the public to come and pay for their TV licences as a majority of those who had already been visited highlighted that they did not know about the payment exercise.
“The inspection which began on Monday has had positive results as people have come to pay in numbers,” said Mdladla.

He said as a show of good measure, they had decided to allow a third extension or amnesty period to allow TV set owners to pay.
He said since Monday, they had moved from businesses to homes and they realised that there was a huge lack of compliance from members of the public.
He said the main reason they had extended the compliance period was that people had asked to be given time.

“This is not a war which is why we are giving defaulters until March 30, 2018 to comply,” said Mdladla.
He said when one worked with members of the public, there had to be great cooperation.

“This is a national project and it calls for us to also handle it with care and dignity,” he said.  He said everyone who hasn’t complied had until the end of the month to do so.
“After that period the inspections will start again with the same vigour which we have displayed since Monday,” he said.

On the issue of intimidation by police which was raised by the Chairperson of the Swaziland Consumer Association, Bongani Mdluli, Mdladla said this was an ill-advised and wrong use of the word.
He said the presence of police officers during the inspections was necessary for three reasons.

Mdladla said for starters, it was meant to protect the client in the case that people came to their houses and posed as licence inspectors and robbed them of their money.
He further said it was also for the safety of the inspectors and that the police were also law enforcers because not paying one’s TV licence had a criminal element to it.
“Police will be next to us for the next five years as we complete this project,” said Mdladla.
He encouraged people not to sit back and wait until the amnesty period  elapsed.         

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