SPEECH BY THE MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS, Dr IVY MATSEPE-CASABURRI ON THE OCCASION OF PUBLIC HEARINGS ON THE BROADCASTING AMENDMENT BILL - 16
SEPTEMBER 2002, CAPE TOWN

The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Communications
Honorable Members of the Portfolio Committee
Leaders and Representatives of the Portfolio Committee
Members of the Media
Ladies and Gentlemen

I am happy to present to you, for consideration, a piece of legislation that will help us move forward in integrating more and more South Africans in the economic, social and political spheres. This amendment is yet another building block setting a stage for a much more inclusive broadcasting dispensation in our country.

This legislative discussion comes in the immediate aftermath of the conclusion of a lengthy and interesting process of passing and enactment of the Electronic Communications and Transaction Act. am pleased to say following the sterling work of this Committee, this Act came into effect from the 30th of August 2002.

Until now the broadcasting system is still shackled by some elements of our unfortunate heritage bequeathed to us by political system which denied a great majority services they were rightfully entitled to.

In this regard most South Africans do not enjoy the right to hear our languages used on air despite the Constitutional dispensation that bestows the right to language choice to us. In a similar vain, the Constitution bestows on us the right to impart and receive information, yet this right has not been given meaning in respect of people in rural and non-urban areas within the context of a broadcasting system that is urban centric and whose operations and services focus on urban centers to the exclusion of the rural and peri-urban areas. If you live in the rural areas, the only service available to you is the language radio service of the SABC.

The nature and type of programming content even for those who have many services at their disposal, still leaves much to be desired. Most of us have been deprived of the chance to learn, be engaged and integrated in the information age as a result of a programming focus that prioritizes entertainment over information and education.

The broadcasting system currently does not adequately play its role of being the educator, the enlightener and purveyor of spiritually and intellectually uplifting information.

Rather than programming content that addresses itself to our needs, the broadcasting system continues to be dominated by content that most of the time is about far away countries and events that have no bearing on our existence. At times foreign rulers are given carte blanche access to our living rooms to propagate their propaganda when our own leaders cannot enjoy the privilege to air their views on important matters about our own country. Interestingly, sometimes our Broadcasting system is preoccupied with positions and policies of other countries as opposed to our own.
The playing field has not been leveled. Some in the broadcasting system have watched helplessly as some players operate without obligations whilst others with similar activities have attracted obligations and responsibilities.

There are other operators who have not been able to offer services in the pay sector because of barriers that are erected by the licensing procedures.

This amendment Bill is about redressing these imbalances and dealing with the challenges that manifest themselves within the broadcasting system.

The purpose of the Bill, in the main, is to do the following:
· Create a clear distinction between the functions and the role of the SABC Board and the functions and role of the executive management
· To make the SABC Board accountable through the executive authority for:
~ Ensuring that public money is properly administered
~ Monitoring the performance of the management in accordance with their contractual obligations and ensure that management complies with the requirements of corporate governance, and
~ To ensure that the management's method of operation withstands public scrutiny.

The Triple Inquiry Report that was tabled in Parliament in 1995 dealt substantially with the protection and viability of public broadcasting services, cross media control of broadcasting services, local television content and South African music. Also, the King Report has forced all broadcasters internally and internationally to re-examine corporate governance and re-position their corporations accordingly.

All these major initiatives laid the foundation for the development of a
broadcasting policy in 1998 and the Broadcasting Act that was
promulgated in 1999.

This Bill therefore, is about the expansion of the broadcasting system to provide more diversity of service to all segments of the South African population. There are two measures to achieve the expansion and diversity of services contained in this Bill.

The Bill seeks to facilitate the licensing of commercial pay operators without exception. The conditions for licensing are being relaxed in order to fast track the process and open the pay sector to more robust competition. We hope this will promote the emergence of new and specialized operators targeting the various interests and markets in the commercial broadcasting sector.

We seek to increase the choice of services for ordinary South Africans who cannot afford the current pay services. To achieve this the Bill provides for the establishment and licensing of two regional television services. These regional services will usher in television broadcasting in the ten other official languages that are currently under-represented in our system. Some of these languages will be aired on television for the first time indicating the significance we attach to this Bill.

There can be no doubt that the playing field must be leveled for the different categories of the broadcasting system. Broadcasters that are engaged, function and compete under similar circumstances must be treated in a way that does not favour some to the detriment of others.
If local content is important, it should be important for all broadcasters and all of them must share in the dissemination of local content. If broadcasting is a regulated activity, all must be regulated irrespective of the technology that is used. Appropriate licence conditions must apply to all. If some are required to pay a licence fee for the activity of broadcasting, then all others engaged in the same broadcasting activity should be required to pay similar licence fees. It is only under these conditions that our broadcasting system can be seen to be fair and transparent to all participants.

It is against this background that the Bill removes any uncertainty with respect to the licensing of all broadcasting operators. All broadcasters and signal distributors are required to hold a licence issued by the Authority to achieve the objectives of the law. Those who currently operate without licences must be brought within the policy and regulatory purview.

In a similar manner the Bill proposes that the SABC should be transparent in running the two sets of different aspects of its business and service. Public broadcasting is and should be different from commercial activity that has as its bottom line the generation of revenue. Policy for Public Broadcasting should define the end goals of public broadcasting and indicate how the SABC will deliver on its obligations as a public broadcaster. We hope that the SABC realizes that in its public broadcasting activities it must be more transparent and accessible than any other broadcaster. Detailed policies on all aspects of the operations and services of the SABC are necessary.

It is surely sensible that the public broadcaster as a publicly owned organization must account to the public as expressed in Parliament. The SABC Public Broadcasting Service should be a model of openness and accessibility. This will require an understanding of the Board's responsibility to develop policies that will be out in the public domain and thus serve as a tool for management accountability. The SABC performance and the policies must be monitored and reviewed over the Medium Term Expenditure Framework periods.

Public broadcasting service should be distinct in its pursuit of the objective to offer programming that educates, informs, spiritually uplifts and entertains all South Africans. Commercial consideration should not stand in the way of public broadcasting establishing itself as a forum for democratic discussion offering access to events of national significance through extensive coverage of our national life.

It would be a disservice if we allowed a situation in which we confined our country to a concept of broadcasting in which all that counts are the laws of the marketplace ignoring the need to showcase and celebrate our cultural heritage, our diverse artistic expression and ways of life.
The split of the SABC into the Public Broadcasting and Commercial Broadcasting divisions is aimed at achieving this transparency, accountability and alignment with the objectives of the law. Accordingly, the Bill proposes the establishment of two Committees of the Board to ensure focus in carrying out the mandate of the Public Broadcasting and Commercial Broadcasting Services of the SABC.

The SABC still needs a commercial operation in order to meet its economic interests. But public ownership cannot be taken to mean a license to compete unfairly and to use public funds and resources to cushion what is essentially a commercial operation.

As those who have followed the four-year licensing process for the community sector will bear us out, there is a fundamental need to restructure the way the Independent Communications Authority operates. After four years of its operation not all the regions have been licensed. This Bill seeks to redress this situation by allowing more powers of delegation to committees of Council.

In conclusion, I would like to focus on the role players, without whose participation the broadcasting system would fail. By this I mean you and me, all of us who must pay our dues so as to sustain public broadcasting. Paying the television license fee is not only the right thing to do. Much more importantly, we as the public can contribute meaningfully in helping to bring about a broadcasting dispensation that is caring, informative, educative and accountable to us. The transparent mechanisms suggested in the Bill will go a long way in ensuring that the money collected for public broadcasting purposes is utilized only for this purpose. We need to play our part and contribute that which we should contribute, both financially and intellectually.

I Thank You.

For further details contact:
Jerry Majatladi
082 889 3381 or
Robert Nkuna
082 887 6874