This week two new councillors took office at the IBA. Ferial Haffajee profiles the new kids on the block
The two thirtysomething councillors add to an Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) that has grown younger and younger since it was established in 1994. It is led by lawyer Felleng Sekha, herself just on the cusp of her 30s.
At 31, Lumko Mtimde is a veteran activist with a long history of lobbying for better broadcasting. Currently the chief executive officer of the National Community Radio Forum, his experience in the field will bolster skills at the regulator. The IBA’s most significant challenges this year have come from community radio stations. Both Radio Islam and the Voice of Soweto have been stripped of their licences in airwave battles that have gained great publicity and generated debate.
This type of radio is a growth industry, with at least 400 new communities seeking licences: policing and regulating it is difficult and the wealth of experience that Mtimde brings will be a boost. He was a founder member of Bush Radio, the country’s oldest community station.
Mtimde is the founder member of many organisations. He joined the team at the Campaign for Independent Broadcasting that forged and forced the first changes at the SABC and he has helped spearhead the push into Africa by local community stations.
Around the continent, South Africa’s licensing of community radio is seen as a trailblazer in providing the blueprint that many now view as the most promising continental media. Mtimde will retain his position as vice-president of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters.
A long-time youth activist and member of the African National Congress, he was born on Johannesburg’s East Rand and studied at Missouri University in the United States and in Cape Town. The postgraduate diploma in telecommunications for which he is studying at Unisa will stand him in good stead when the IBA merges with the South African Telecommunications Regulatory Authority later this year.
Joining Mtimde in the broadcasting hot-seat is 30 year old Nadia Bulbulia. She is no newcomer to the IBA, having joined the regulator as a researcher in 1994 and then quickly climbed its ranks to serve as assistant to councillor Frank Meintjies and finally as a unit head in charge of programming. Her strength lies in policy development and programming. Effective programming is an essential of good television and many suggest that Midi Television (which last week bagged a licence to operate private TV) won because it had a programming edge.
The ebullient Bulbulia also has a passion for children’s television and is probably one of the country’s leaders in this new field. She has attended numerous international conferences on broadcasting for children and was last month elected to an executive position at the Second World Summit on Children’s Television. She studied drama and education, locally and in the United Kingdom, and her management skills have been honed at various business schools.
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