Digital Tv Project In Peril As Installers Warn Of Set-top Box Fiasco

Contractors working on the project as installers, who spoke to TechCentral on condition of anonymity, have laid bare a litany of problems, including allegedly below-market installation fees paid by project manager Sentech incompetent or disengaged project managers a lack of effective administrative support systems and even loss and theft of stock.

Earlier this week, TechCentral reported that Sentech has just two months left to distribute 220 000 warehoused set-top boxes to qualifying homes across the country. According to the installers, who spoke off the record for fear of retaliation, there is "no way" the project will meet the 31 March 2025 deadline because "the situation on the ground is a mess".

Late last year, communications minister Solly Malatsi announced a three-month extension to analogue switch-off. E.tv - backed by Media Monitoring Africa the SOS Coalition - have dragged Malatsi to court, saying that cutting off analogue broadcasts will deprive millions of South Africans access to television.

TechCentral's investigation into the problems with the subsidised set-top box programme is likely to cast further doubt on whether the 31 March switch-off can be met.

"The contract and quality assurance rules stipulate that payments will be made in two weeks," one of the aggrieved installers told TechCentral. "But we have never experienced that - no one has ever been paid on time. Some installers have not been paid in two years."