Beginning in 1923, radio broadcasting became a prominent form of entertainment and information exchange in South Africa. In 1927, the state started the African Broadcasting Corporation, however, it proved ineffective and dissolved within a year. Parliament established the South African Broadcasting Corporation in 1936 to streamline the news and information services. Senior management was primarily members of the National Party and the Broederbond Society, supporters of the apartheid regime.
The SABC traditionally only broadcast in the official languages of South Africa: English and Afrikaans. However, as the services grew, public demand for new languages developed. By the 1950s, the company was broadcasting in Sesotho, Tswana, Xhosa and Zulu.
During the 1960s, the SABC expanded its operations to other parts of Africa with a service called Radio RSA. This became Channel Africa after apartheid. While on the air, it brought even more language services to the southern portion of the continent including Dutch, English, French, German, Portuguese and Swahili.
The company also operated the broadcasting services of Namibia, however, this was changed in 1979 into the South West Broadcasting Corporation and ultimately the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation in 1990.
Throughout its history, the SABC has been very conservative. During the apartheid days, it favored the prevention of integration for the native Africans into the government. However, following the removal of race-based politics, it became a primary supporter of the Mandela movement as well as other issues involving the black majority.
SABC also has always made an effort to prevent itself from being part of any controversial movements. An example of this was its tendency to play "safe" music during the 1960s. Bands like The Rolling Stones were banned from the airwaves in preference for easy listening music.
Since 1996, the SABC has been accused of being a political arm of the African National Congress, a political party that came to power following the end of apartheid. During an investigation between 2003 and 2005, many international observers found that the SABC was involved in a number of questionable actions, including selective coverage of news events, opinionated broadcasting and the tendency to censor its own journalists. Despite this, the company remains the most popular source of broadcasting in South Africa.
Until 1986, the SABC essentially maintained a monopoly over all of the region's radio and television programming. A group of newspaper publishers launched a subscription-based service called M-Net. While the company successfully attracted viewers, legislation prevented it from broadcasting news services. This was accented by a digital satellite broadcast called Multichoice launched in 1995. In an effort to remain competitive, SABC joined the digital satellite market, eventually establishing a triumvirate of networks each with its own focus. SABC1 provides Nguni language with English secondarily service. SABC2 provides service in Afrikaans, Sesotho and English. SABC3 is presented in English and Afrikaans.