Justin Pearce
Aspirant community radio broadcasters are furious with the Independent Broadcating Authority (IBA) for apparently favouring religious evangelists and rightwingers in the granting of licences.
The loudest objections come from organisations trying to set up stations aimed at black communities, who feel sidelined both by the IBA’s manner of operating, and in its choice of stations. The IBA has a statutory obligation to provide broadcasting opportunities to historically disadvantaged — in plain language, black — communities.
Lumko Mtindwe, co-ordinator of the National Community Radio Forum (NCRF) echoes the sentiments of many black community broadcasters when he points to the large number of stations devoted to religious programming or the promotion of Afrikaner culture.
Radio Pretoria, heir to the right-wing station whose operators took up arms to defend their transmitter before last year’s elections, has been granted a licence to broadcast from nine transmitters dotted around the northern part of the country, and has applied for four more transmitters. Baken Radio, also based in Pretoria, is linked to the Rapportryers, a student organisation widely held to be a breeding- ground for the Afrikanerbond (formerly the
At the same time, no fewer than 15 religious stations have been granted community licences, 12 of them Christian and three Muslim.
IBA councillor John Matisonn denies that the IBA has left black broadcasters by the wayside. “The Act tells us to ensure that historically disadvantaged people are brought into the process — and that has happened,” he maintains. He said the IBA was unaware of the political links of Baken Radio, and would investigate the matter.
He added it would be a cause for concern if black stations in particular were forced to close down for lack of money. But broadcasters themselves feel that a lack of clarity from the IBA over when and whether they would get their licences has cost the stations credibility with financial backers.
The National Association of Broadcasters, an organisation representing both commercial and non- commercial broadcasting interests, intends approaching the IBA to take up the cause of financially threatened
“Many community broadcasters are suffering because they do not have the financial means to get on the air,” said Daniella Goldman, executive director of NAB. “They were granted licences by the IBA without any thought as to how they were going to get on the air.”
Matisonn admitted that some stations had been granted licences on the basis of their commitment and their perceived ability to raise funds, rather than necessarily having cash in their coffers. And indeed, the question of finances has been a catch-22 for many community broadcasters. Until they can produce a licence, funders are reluctant to commit cash. Now that licences have finally been issued, broadcasters are going back to their funders — be they foreign donors or small-town businesses interested in buying advertising time — and the time that it will take to secure the money is one reason why few community stations anticipate being on air earlier than July.
One observer compared the task of the IBA to that of the Independent Electoral Commission last year — both were newcomers taking on a vast task with an almost limitless number of unknowns. The licensing process was complicated by the fact that the IBA received 170 applications for community radio licences — far more than it anticipated. It appears that the IBA, overwhelmed by the number of applications, took the line of least resistance. So the stations with the expertise got in first, and many of the “historically disadvantaged” community stations were left
In fairness, the IBA was in a no-win situation. As Matisonn points out, the IBA could not be player and referee by coaching applicants — but in the absence of anyone else to take on this task, it was difficult for the IBA to fulfil its duty of opening opportunities for inexperienced broadcasters.
Mtindwe has doubts about the community credentials of some of the stations which received licences, and claims that of the 35 NCRF members who applied for licences, only 15 were successful.
In its purest form, a community broadcaster is owned and controlled by the community which it serves. The station must be managed democratically by a board representative of and accountable to the community which the station sees as its target audience. These are the criteria used by the National Community Radio Forum (NCRF) and, in theory at least, by the IBA.
Matisonn admits it is possible that one or two stations with commercial ambitions may have been able to slip in under the guise of community broadcasters, but generally he is satisfied that the majority of licencees will operate in good faith.
However, just what is meant by “community” has created more controversy. The IBA allows for communities to be defined on the basis of geographical proximity — for example, Alexandra — or as “communities of interest”: the Muslim community of Durban, for example. A “community of interest” station is aimed at a wider area than a neighbourhood station, and hence requires a more powerful transmitter.
Farah Moosa of Bush Radio argues that as a result of the Group Areas Act, geographical boundaries mean ethnic boundaries, and a broadcaster has a right to broadcast beyond its own back yard in order to create a sense of community across racial lines. Bush sees its target audience as the community of Cape Town — a definition too broad for the IBA’s tastes, which is why Bush is furious at ending up with a 15km broadcasting radius on a frequency shared with another broadcaster,
In regions where there was less competition, it was much easier for loosely defined communities to get access to high-powered transmitters. NWFM, based in Christiana in the western Free State, will be broadcasting to several towns within a 60-km radius of the transmitter. And East Side Story Radio on the East Rand has used its generous allocation to break through ethnic boundaries in the way Bush intended to. The station is based in the townships around Benoni but will aim its multilingual programmes at the white suburbs as well.
So the IBA’s intention of fairness was stymied by practicalities. A single broadcaster in a rural community can get almost anything it wants in terms of waveband allocations. In urban areas, competition for channels forced the IBA to impose limits. The situation is worst in greater Cape Town, where the SABC uses multiple frequencies to overcome the problems presented by the mountains — leaving very few wavebands for community broadcasters.
The IBA has kept frequencies aside for independent commercial broadcasters. But investors who intend backing commercial stations are desperately frustrated by the delays, according to Goldman. There were clear political reasons why the IBA had to get community licences out of the way before turning its attention to commercial operations, but these concerns are unlikely to soothe the impatience of foreign investors who have been eyeing South Africa ever since the first moves towards democracy in 1990 promised a liberalisation of
Matisonn hopes that the first independent commercial radio licences will be issued by the end of this year. Others have warned that if this does not happen, it will mean the loss of all credibility for the IBA. An Independent Telecommunications Authority (ITA) is likely to be established in the near future, as technological developments bring about an increasing overlap between broadcasting and telephony. If the IBA cannot deliver soon, it could find its role eclipsed by the ITA.