The National Community Radio Forum and the Freedom of Expression Institute are engaging in a series of actions around the licencing of community radio to highlight the unacceptably slow pace of the process, and the impact it is having on the stations. The licencing process is being undertaken by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA). These actions include a demonstration outside Parliament tomorrow (Tuesday 19 September), where a petition will be handed over the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Communications, Nkenke Kekana, and a similar action at the ICASA headquarters on Wednesday.

The NCRF and the FXI are deeply disturbed by the inefficiency and disregard the Authority is demonstrating towards the community radio sector, by failing to speed up the process, and failing to respond to practical suggestions by the two organisations in this respect. This lack of response is leading to rising frustration on the part of community radio stations, and potentially irreversible damage to the sector as a whole. Community radio has a vitally important role to play in redressing imbalances in ownership and control of the media, and is becoming increasingly important for access to information in the most marginalised parts of South Africa. The slowness in the licencing process is frustrating their ability to play this role, and is ensuring that many stations that could have been on air in time to play a role in the upcoming local government elections will be unable to do so.

Four-year applications were invited in 1997, after the Authority decided to phase out the issuing of one-year licences in an attempt to bring stability to the sector. Applications for these licences closed in 1998. It is now 2000, and stations in KwaZulu/ Natal, Western Cape and Gauteng are still waiting for hearings to take place, although licences have been granted in other provinces. Hearings have been repeatedly scheduled and then cancelled, leading to confusion and disillusionment among stations, with a number experiencing disintegration.

These delays are also having a knock-on effect on the sustainability of the community radio sector. Resources that have been channelled into the sector, such as training and production equipment, are being squandered as off-air stations becoming increasingly disorganised. Numerous stations, while waiting for hearings, have run up substantial debts as they are unable to attract ongoing funding and advertising given that they are off-air. Advertising and donor confidence has been affected, as the ongoing delays have damaged attempts to bring stability to the sector. Stations that are on-air on one year licences have also been affected, as they have had to endure an annual renewal process, which is stressful, time-consuming and expensive. Stations are also unable to plan properly as their existence is not guaranteed beyond the duration of the one-year licence.

The FXI and NCRF also deplore ICASA's slowness in issuing licences to stations in provinces where four-year licences have been granted, with some provinces having had to wait up to eight months before licences are issued. Such delays are simply unacceptable, and are compounding the perception in the community radio sector that ICASA is insensitive to its needs.

These delays also make it practically impossible for new community radio stations to establish themselves. It is anticipated that this current round of licencing will be completed in 2001, followed by a hearing into community radio which the Authority is obliged to conduct in terms of the Broadcasting Act. Therefore, it is likely that applications for the remaining frequencies will be invited only in 2002, which means that initiatives that were unable to apply in time for the first round of four year licences would have had to wait five years to apply. This situation is simply unworkable for stations, as it prevents the community radio sector from developing organically.

The FXI and NCRF recognise that ICASA has faced real constraints on its ability to operate effectively. These include disabling cuts to its budget and a merger of its predecessors organisations, the Independent Broadcasting Authority and the South African Telecommunications Regulatory Authority. In an attempt to deal with these problems constructively, the organisations advanced practical suggestions to the Authority about how to speed up the licencing of community radio, backed up by a legal opinion. This opinion was sent to the Authority on 8 June, 2000. The FXI and NCRF then met with the Authority on 20 July, 2000 to discuss the proposals, after repeated requests for a meeting. Since then, the FXI and NCRF have not received a formal response to the proposals, despite undertakings from the Authority that a response would be forthcoming. So both organisations are faced with the absurd situation where not only has the Authority failed to respond timeously to the needs of the sector, it has also failed to respond to practical attempts to address this failure. The constraints that ICASA has faced are no excuse for the manner in which the two organisations, and more importantly the stations themselves, have been treated.

Therefore, we call on the ICASA Council, as elected representatives of civil society, to act immediately to prioritise the licencing of community radio stations in KwaZulu/ Natal, Western Cape and Gauteng. In doing so, we do not believe that we are calling on the Authority to allow these stations to jump the queue with respect to its priorities, but we believe that the completion of this round of licencing is long overdue, and further delays cannot be justified on any basis.

Contact:

National Community Radio Forum Johannesburg: Mabalane Mfundisi (CEO, NCRF), Tel: (011) 403-4336 Cape Town: Vusi Tshose (National Advocacy Officer, NCRF), Tel: 082-333-0890

Freedom of Expression Institute Jane Duncan (Head Policy and Research, FXI), Tel: (011) 403-8403