Keynote address by Honourable Faith Muthambi, Minister of Communications, at the Media Development And Diversity Agency (MDDA) Community Broadcast Stakeholder Engagement Workshop, Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg, Gauteng
Programme Director
MDDA Board Members
The Executive and staff of MDDA
NCRF Board Members
NAB
ICASA
SABC
SENTECH
SEDA
NEMISA
SAASTA
Sou; City
NAB
Members of the media
Ladies and gentlemen
I greet you all!
Programme Director,
Thank you for inviting me to address you this morning.
Allow me to begin by congratulating both the MDDA Board, the Executive and staff members of the Agency for this initiative.
This stakeholder engagement workshop with the community broadcasting sector on funded projects across all nine provinces of South Africa and its aims of engaging the station managers on critical trends, developments and issues that face this very critical sector of our democracy reminds me of my first few months in office when I criss-crossed the nine (9) Provinces engaging with the community print and radio sector on various issues and challenges they were facing.
At that time, I was trying to take over from my experience at the Portfolio Committee on Communications and now as the member of the Executive I was interested in bringing together these important stakeholders in the sector to further understand developments that will impact them and how we could work together to enhance the operations and environment of community media.
I am well aware of the importance of the community broadcasting sector to South African life. My Ministry is also concerned about the governance of the sector and its funding. We want to see improvements made in the community interest. I am here to remind you that Government continues to be interested in nourishing the community broadcasting sector and we want to encourage your sector to continue to make a great contribution to the social cohesion and nation building of the country and the individual identities of the communities you serve.
At that point my message was very clear and it remains, how Government can continue to weave a network of support for the community media through grassroots radio, television and independent newspapers. I had indicated that Government wants to revamp and invest in community media in a way that was going to ensure that you preserve, produce and supply relevant local, and locally originated programming on relevant issues such as welfare benefits, employment rights, and promoting more voices and viewpoints in the media.
I had told you then, as am repeating today, that my Ministry and Department is part of Outcomes 14 which has to do with promoting social cohesion and nation building.
I must say, having had the privilege of being part of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on resolving challenges in the areas of Vhuwani in Vhembe, I could not understand why the community broadcasting sector in general never saw anything wrong with what was happening there.
When Steven Biko warned that Black Man you are on your own, he was probably warning people from destroying the future of their own kind. The crap mentality that took place in that place is not only the highest form of foolishness, but it is unforgivable.
Gibson Kente, the father of black theatre, used to have a song that goes like this: I quote
"Help that Black child in the streets,
Let his days ahead be lit,
Make him(her) read and write
Make his(her) future bright,
Oh Lord help that Black mother and the father,
Help them get their child further,
That's all I ask for Dear Lord, please LISTEN!" closed quote
Please join me in prayer as Government continues or is attempting to ensure a bright future for the poor black children of Vhuwani, especially the Grade 11 and 12 who desperately need their June exam results to apply for bursaries and university spaces. If we all pray together, I know for a fact that the good Lord will listen and respond on behalf of His children and the black child‘s future will be brighter and reach greater heights .
It is the role of a strong community media sector to strengthen local communities by promoting the need of human rights education where democratic engagement and civic participation are to be nurtured.
Elections
The forthcoming Local Government Elections should feature higher in our agendas. We should never take for granted the sacrifices of countless compatriots who fought tirelessly to secure our rights to participate in democratic processes such as voting. Let’s involve our respective communities to understand that bad things thrive when good people withhold their voters’ rights. These should include tolerance of different political views and promotion of the sense of nationhood. We have less than six weeks to fulfil this mandate of public participation in the August 03 Local Government Elections.
Youth Month
As we wrap the commemoration of Youth Month, it is our responsibility to create an indelible mark in the minds of the youths about the heroic legacy of the Class of ‘76 that ushered in our new political dispensation despite some challenges that still lie ahead. Youth Month this year coincided with the Adoption of the 20th Anniversary of the adoption of our Constitution, a milestone indeed as custodians of our own Liberation. The youths of South Africa must be goaded to participate in democratic structures and processes and instil in them the sense of Patriotism.
Community media must encourage them to be active participants in democratic structures and processes such as the forthcoming Local Government elections. They must volunteer in various community projects and be encouraged to protect public infrastructures such as learning and health centres. Don‘t count the things you do, do the things that count.
I would like to submit to you that any community media sector that takes itself serious and requires serious investments, will not be a copy-cat of the commercial and public sector broadcasters but will attempt to stimulate debates on topics anchored in the cultural, social, economic and political reality of the democratic South Africa.
We just emerged from the commemoration of a major historical turning points in South African social and political history related to the youth and students protest of 1976 in Soweto. Would you say the stations present here stood out in their various communities in terms of the content they presented leading to that commemorative day?
Government programmes
Have you tried to come up with programming that leads to the understanding, debating and explaining the benefits of the National Development Plan and the nine (9) Point Plan?
How are you assisting with the constructive dialogue and seeking common solutions to combatting stigmatisation of “immigrants” and building counter narratives to promote tolerance of foreign nationals?
I am told that in other countries, many community radio and TV organisations continue to work with the variety of language groups and serve to integrate and strengthen local bonds of all local citizens and foreign nationals.
As you may be aware, recently something disturbing that has been brewing underneath since we took over power in 1994, has been coming out in the open: racism and online hate speech. How is the community media going to ensure that it collectively takes a stand against racism in social networks and electronic media.
I recommend that you consider working with or forming partnerships with the South African Local Government Association (SALGA); South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), Film and Publication Board (FPB), Departments of Arts and Culture, GCIS, Home Affairs, Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, and Justice and Constitutional Development on these programmes and various other content issues that you might want to produce for your audiences or listeners. Of course you will have to agree with them on payment terms.
We are of the view that people cannot be willing to pay commercial and public broadcasters and believe that when they come to you it has to be for free. You are broadcasters and you deserve the same treatment. But people take you serious and treat you professionally if you exhibit such characteristics. Take yourselves seriously and behave in a professional way, all the squabbles should be dealt with in good time and in line with the rules and regulations provided to you by ICASA.
You will remember that during my budget vote speech I indicated that I will be hosting a Print Media Colloquium where I am going to be addressing issues related to address not only print media ownership, but also the ownership of printing presses, the measurement of circulation, distribution channels and the assessment of regulatory instruments to regulate the affairs of media practitioners. Leading to this colloquium, I expect your stations to commence with discussions to hear from your respective communities ‘views on this matter: most of them have told me, during our izimbizo, that they feel that the voice of the poor and rural people is marginalised in the mainstream media.
Most of them have, for the first time in their adult life, received services and benefits that they were deprived of during apartheid, and they are willing to tell this good story; but no one gives them a voice. This includes you the community broadcasting sector, that was supposed to speak on their behalf and reflect their concerns and voices, but you continue to marginalise your communities as well. That’s not fair, community broadcasting principles are about giving voice to the voiceless and hearing the unheard.
In due course my officials will consult the sector on the draft positions related to the Community Radio and Television Support Strategy in all nine provinces. We would like to finalise on this so that we submit it to Cabinet for it to become a national support strategy of Government once we have re-confirmed with you our preliminary views.
I am also proud to announce to you that we will be switching off analogue signals in the SKA Area as we have finalised allocating digital set top boxes to these communities. What continues to pain me is that most of them are starting to receive clear signals and television channels from Government. The farmers are also relieved that they will also be having a financial relief as they were paying for low-power transmitters, which have been done away with and they are able to be part of the larger South Africa. Most of them are also happy that the radio stations are going to play 90% local music and that from the 1st of July 2016, their television channels will be largely made up of South African and African content.
My view is that the community broadcasting sector can go up to 95 percent. You can play your local talents and local community music instead of sounding like commercial American broadcasters. I was in Russia the first week of this month, I did not hear anything African on their television and radio stations, they broadcast foreign content very early in the morning or late at night. They were rather playing more European sounds. Community broadcasting sector can do the same by promoting African content.
Conclusion
Due to digital convergence and changes in the sector, I need to leave you with this message: You need to adapt to change, come up with new business models and fundamentally rethink of your role as the community broadcasting sector, focus on services that are needed in society which would not be provided otherwise, concentrate on community service broadcasting which meets the programming, cultural and broadcasting needs that cannot be provided in a commercial and public space.
This is where Government is willing to support and properly fund your sector in that regard. We will only fund a fair and balanced community broadcasting sector that can serve the entire community and operate within a clearly defined mandate which focusses on community service broadcasting.
As most of you are aware, economically we are in very difficult times, money to fund your sector in a way that would satisfy all of us is very thin and shrinking.
Working together with MDDA, ICASA, SENTECH we are now coordinating different support programmes for the sector across government to ensure that there is a holistic approach, no duplication and that resources are used effectively. This was suggested by stakeholders when I met them last year.
We are also going to strengthen the licensing and monitoring mechanisms of ICASA to strengthen oversight and monitoring. ICASA and MDDA will in future intervene in a decisive manner where it will be encouraged to refuse applications if a licensee has not complied with rules and regulations; or intervene in situations where governance and compliance challenges are experienced.
It is our wish that the community broadcasting sector remains distinct from others and that your target audiences and communities are involved in the services; that community-based content and programming is available across a wide range of platforms and devices and that communities have the means to distribute their own content across these; and that you remain as non-profit entities that are sustainable and viable.
Several submissions were made in relation to these. From a policy perspective, Government will continue to facilitate the development of digital content hubs and the Digital Radio Policy to promote content development by a range of producers across the country that will be fit for the digital platforms.
The mentality of entitlement and not having consequence management must end. Stations cannot continue demanding money from Government where they themselves have been at fault and keep on changing Board members so that they can have access to Government funding. Once we fund you, because the que is long, we cannot overlook others and prioritise you because you have changed your Boards or Management, you will have to ensure that you raise funding from other sources. No more double dipping or lying to political representatives because you have abused your funding or resources provided to you by MDDA/DoC/GCIS.
Once more, thank you very much for this invite. We look forward to collaborating with your sector.
I know we have been invited to the Gala dinner, let’s use it as a platform for vigorous marketing and networking of our mandate as community media .
May your engagements today and tomorrow be fruitful; I look forward to receiving a report on the positive outcomes of the workshop.
I thank you.
Enquiries:
Mishack Molakeng
Cell: 082 469 3997
