The South African Broadcasting Corporation has been granted full exemption from complying with local television content quotas.

The public broadcaster had applied to the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) in an effort to mitigate the impact that the coronavirus pandemic could have on its local productions following the closure of production houses due to the national lockdown.

The SABC says Icasa’s relaxation of the regulations is aimed at mitigating the risk of non-compliance.

SABC acting spokesperson Mmoni Seapolelo says, “This exemption only applies to the SABC’s television services and not the radio or news services.”

”It must be emphasised that the relaxation of the regulations by ICASA is to mitigate the risk of non-compliance by the public broadcaster and does not reflect an intent by the corporation not to execute and deliver on its mandate,” explains Seapolelo.