ON 25 October the Minister of Communications, Dr Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, will switch on a number of low power transmitters that will service communities in the Kgalagadi area of the Northern Cape. This will give these communities access to the full range of programming on the SABC’s television and radio services for the first time ever.
The transmitters have been funded from TV licence revenue. Heuningsvlei, Laxey, Loopeng and Severn are the municipal areas that will reap the benefits. This first-time delivery of extended radio and television services includes, in particular, SABC1, 2 and 3, and Motsweding FM, and is in response to requests from these communities to the Department of Communications (DoC) during a previous Imbizo.
Since then, the DoC has been working in partnership with the SABC and the signal provider Sentech to extend coverage to these communities. The SABC’s application to ICASA (the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa) to extend its broadcasting services to the Kgalagadi towns of Heuningsvlei, Laxey, Loopeng and Severn was approved by the regulatory body. Sentech then established the new transmitter sites, making possible today’s official switch-on of these extended services.
Commenting on the SABC’s public broadcasting mandate, the SABC’s Head of Audience Services, Anton Heunis, said it was the right of every South African to enjoy quality programming – on both radio and television – that educates, informs and entertains. “As the national broadcaster, we have an obligation to ensure that citizens across the country are able to access our services. Working with the Department of Communications and Sentech to bring news, education and entertainment programming to this Kgalagadi area of the Northern Cape and its communities has been a most rewarding project for us.
“We wish to take this opportunity to thank the TV licence-paying citizens of South Africa, whose willingness to make this annual payment has provided real value for these areas that previously had very limited or no access to broadcasting services. They have now been empowered to share in the daily news of their country and the world, and to enjoy educational programming as well as quality entertainment. This project is a positive and tangible outcome of the difference paying one’s television licence fees can make.’
In line with its vision of Broadcasting for Total Citizen Empowerment, the SABC will continue with the roll-out of similar transmitters to approximately 300 sites over a three-year period.
