Judgment Reserved In Looming Analogue Switch-off Deadline Case

The Gauteng High Court in Pretoria has stated that the Minister of Communication Technologies submission that he did not have to consult on the 31 March 2025 analogue switch-off deadline is not sustainable.

This as Counsel on behalf of the minister argued that it did not have to conduct another round of consultations when setting the analogue switch off ASO deadline to 31 March 2025.

Applicants are asking the court to halt the decision, which they argue, will sever millions of South Africans access to television, particularly the poor.

The Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies has opposed ETVs bid to halt the 31 March 2025 Analogue Switch-Off ASO deadline contending that there was no legitimate basis for another round of consultation on this postponement.

"When the decision to proclaim 31 March 2025 was taken by cabinet, the minister did not go to the applicants and say I am now thinking of 31 March 2025. That did not happen. That we accept! And our submission is that, in fact, it did not have to happen," says Advocate Kennedy Tsatsawene SC on behalf of Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies.