PUBLIC BROADCASTING IN AFRICA A SURVEY SOUTH AFRICA COUNTRY REPORT JANUARY 2010 Written by: Libby Lloyd (researcher up to June 2009), Prof Jane Duncan (researcher from September 2009), Jeanette Minnie (regional editor) and Hendrik Bussiek (editor-in-chief) Africa Governance Monitoring and Advocacy Project (AfriMAP) Open Society Foundation for South Africa (OSF-SA) Open Society Institute Media Program (OSIMP) CONTENTS Acronyms 4 Foreword 6 Introduction 7 1 Country facts 9 1 Government 9 2 Economic and social development 13 3 Main challenges 18 4 The media landscape 24 5 Brief history of broadcasting 30 2 Media legislation and regulation 36 1 International, continental and regional standards 36 2 The Constitution of South Africa 40 3 General media laws and regulations 42 4 Other laws that impact on media and freedom of expression 46 5 Case law and judgements 49 6 Conclusions and recommendations 53 3 The broadcasting landscape 56 1 The public broadcaster 56 2 Commercial broadcasters 56 3 Limitations on media ownership 61 4 Community broadcasting 62 5 Accessibility of broadcasting services 66 6 Technical standards 69 7 Conclusions and recommendations 70 4. Digital migration 72 1 Policy 72 2 Signal distribution 76 3 Impact on broadcasters 77 4 Impact on consumers 80 5 Convergence 81 6 Competition and the broadcasting environment 83 7 Conclusions and recommendations 85 5. Broadcasting legislation and regulation 87 1 Legislation 87 2 The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa 91 3 Licensing of broadcasters 99 4 Complaints procedures 104 5 Conclusions and recommendations 106 2 6. The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) 111 1 Legislation 111 2 Definition of public broadcasting 114 3 The legal status of the SABC 117 4 The Board 122 5 Profile of the SABC 132 6 Organisation 137 7 Conclusions and recommendations 143 7. Funding of the South African Broadcasting Corporation 146 1 Overview 146 2 Sources of funding 152 3 Expenditure 165 4 Conclusions and recommendations 169 8. Programming 174 1 Types of formats on SABC stations 175 2 Programming/editorial policies and guidelines of the SABC 178 3 Types of programmes on other broadcasters 182 4 Analysis of programmes 184 5 Audience research 188 6 Feedback and complaints procedures 191 7 Conclusions and recommendations 192 9. Perceptions of and expectations towards the SABC 195 1 Political parties 195 2 Civil society 197 3 Employees of the SABC 201 4 Conclusions and recommendations 202 10. Broadcasting reform efforts 204 1 Previous and current broadcasting reform efforts 204 2 Public Services Broadcasting Bill 207 3 Future of public broadcasting 213 4 Conclusions and recommendations 215 11. Overall conclusions and recommendations 217 3 Acronyms ACDP African Christian Democratic Party ACHPR African Commission on Human and Peoples‟ Rights AMPS All Media Products Survey ANC African National Congress APRM African Peer Review Mechanism ASA Advertising Standards Authority AU African Union AZAPO Azanian People‟s Organisation BBC British Broadcasting Corporation BCCSA Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa BEE Black Economic Empowerment BEMAWU Broadcasting and Electronic Media Allied Workers Union CCC Complaints and Compliance Committee CIB Campaign for Independent Broadcasting COPE Congress of the People COSATU Congress of South African Trade Unions CWU Communications Workers Union CWUSA Creative Workers Union of South Africa DA Democratic Alliance DFA Documentary Filmmakers Association DSTV Digital Satellite Television DTT Digital Terrestrial Television DMWG Digital Migration Working Group EC Act Electronic Communications Act ECNS Electronic Communications Network Operators FEDUSA Federation of Unions of South Africa FXI Freedom of Expression Institute GEAR Growth, Employment and Redistribution Strategy HSRC Human Sciences Research Council IBA Independent Broadcasting Authority ICASA Independent Communications Authority of South Africa ID Independent Democrats IDASA Institute for Democracy in South Africa IEC Independent Electoral Commission IFP Inkatha Freedom Party IPO Independent Producers Organisation IPTV Internet Protocol Television Service ITU International Telecommunications Union LSM Living Standards Measurement MISA Media Institute of Southern Africa MMA Media Monitoring Africa MDDA Media Development and Diversity Agency NAB National Association of Broadcasters of South Africa NCOP National Council of Provinces NCRF National Community Radio Forum NDPP National Directorate of Public Prosecutions NUMSA National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa OAU Organisation of African Unity ODAC Open Democracy Advice Centre 4 OSF-SA Open Society Foundation for South Africa PAIA Promotion of Access to Information Act PFMA Public Finance Management Act RDP Reconstruction and Development Programme SAARF South African Advertising Research Foundation SABC South African Broadcasting Corporation SACP South African Communist Party SADC Southern African Development Community SAHRC South African Human Rights Commission SANEF South African National Editors Forum SAPA South African Press Agency SARS South African Revenue Service SASFED South African Screen Federation SATRA South African Telecommunications Regulatory Authority SOS Save the SABC Coalition Stats SA Statistics South Africa STB Set Top Box TVIEC Television Industry Emergency Coalition UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation USAASA Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa USAF Universal Service and Access Fund WGSA Writers Guild of South Africa 5 Foreword The report is the result of research that started in 2008 with the aim of collecting, collating and writing up information about regulation, ownership, access, performance as well as prospects for public broadcast reform in Africa. The South Africa report is part of an eleven- country survey of African broadcast media. The main reason for conducting the research is to contribute to Africa‟s democratic consolidation. Many African countries have made significant gains in building democratic systems of governance that are based on popular control of decision making and in which citizens are treated as equals. Availability and access to information by a greater number of citizens is a critical part of a functioning democracy and a country‟s development. The role of a public broadcaster as a vehicle through which objective information and diverse perspectives are transmitted into the public domain cannot be overstated. A number of countries are currently undertaking public broadcast media reforms that aim to improve service delivery and accountability to citizens. Such reforms draw from evolving African and global standards regarding media and broadcast media in particular. The survey instrument that was developed in consultation with African media experts and others from other parts of the world is largely based on agreements, conventions, charters and declarations regarding media that have been developed at regional and continental levels in Africa. The survey of broadcast media in Africa was initiated by two projects of the Open Society Institute (OSI), the Africa Governance Monitoring and Advocacy Project (AfriMAP) and the Open Society Institute Media Program, working with the African members of the Soros foundation network – in South Africa, the Open Society Foundation for South Africa. The bulk of the report was researched and written by Libby Lloyd, a media and broadcasting consultant based in Johannesburg. When she was appointed as a member of an interim board of the South African Broadcasting Corporation in July 2009 she handed over to Jane Duncan, professor of Media and Information Society at Rhodes University Grahamstown, South Africa, in order to avoid any conflict of interest, actual or perceived. The report was co- edited by Jeanette Minnie, an international freedom of expression and media consultant, as regional editor and the editor-in-chief of the project, Hendrik Bussiek, a media consultant with extensive broadcasting experience in Africa and globally. It is our hope that the research will clear some of the misconceptions about public broadcasters. In its simplest definition a “public broadcasting service” is a broadcaster that serves the public as a whole and is accountable to the public as a whole. Yet in most instances what is referred to as a public broadcaster is in fact a state broadcaster: this research aims to help the process of aiding the transformation of Africa‟s public broadcasters into media worthy of the name. Ozias Tungwarara Director, AfriMAP 6 Introduction The survey on public broadcasting in Africa starts from the premise that development and democracy cannot thrive without open and free public space where all issues concerning people‟s lives can be aired and debated and which gives them room and opportunity to participate in decision making. Nobel Prize laureate Amartya Sen describes democracy as “governance by dialogue” and broadcasters are ideally placed to facilitate this dialogue by providing the space for it – if their services are accessible, independent, credible and open to the full spectrum of diverse views. Following from this premise, the key objective of the survey is to assess whether and to what extent the various forms of broadcasting on our continent can and do create such a free public space, with special attention given to those services which call themselves „public‟. A total of eleven country reports look closely at the current status of broadcasting in Benin, Cameroon,