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Date : 25/03/2004
Source: Ministry of Education
Title: K Asmal: Occasion of SABC celebration of 7 years of excellence


ADDRESS BY THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION, PROFESSOR KADER ASMAL, MP, ON THE OCCASION OF THE SABC CELEBRATION OF SEVEN YEARS OF EXCELLENCE, 25 March 2004

Director of Ceremonies, Mr Vuyo Mbuli
Honourable Minister of Communications, Dr Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri
Executive Mayors
Philip Tobias, Professor Emeritus of Anatomy and Human Biology at the University of the Witwatersrand
The Board of the SABC
Chief Executive Officers and Executives of industry and parastatals
The Managing Director of SABC Education, Dr Ihron Rensburg, and his staff
Colleagues in national and provincial governments
Ladies and Gentlemen.

Tonight we celebrate public broadcasting. Tonight, our public broadcaster, the SABC, marks seven years of excellence. Over these years, the SABC has charted new territory in entertaining, informing and educating the public.

In doing so, we celebrate the significant gains that have been made in moving the SABC away from its shameful apartheid past, that of a propaganda machine, which served as the primary mouthpiece of those that wished to maintain and uphold a pernicious and unjust system.

Our celebration this evening is most timely, in that we are nearing the tenth anniversary of our freedom, where we not only celebrate our achievements as a democracy, but also reflect on the challenges confronting us as we build a new nation out of the ashes of the old.

On this festive occasion, I therefore hope you will forgive me if I begin by asking some questions that might sound like academic questions, but are nevertheless important for us to reflect on. I used to be an academic. It is a hard habit to break. Even as Minister of Education, I still find time to think.

As we celebrate the SABC's excellence in public broadcasting, I want to ask: What do we mean by "public"? What do we mean "the public"? What do we mean by the "public" in public broadcasting?

A public is not just there-like the sun, wind or water-as a natural resource to be tapped. A public is a social and cultural creation. A public is created by the social and cultural work of communication.

A public is called into being whenever people share and participate in the same medium of communication.

Oral tradition-sharing stories, engaging in debate, and even exchanging rumours-can create a public. Newspapers, by enabling us to think about the world, can create a public, especially when they allow the public to participate by writing back through letters to the editor. Most potently, the electronic media of radio, film, and television create a public by engaging our imaginations, by drawing us into shared perceptions about the nature of our world.

This is the awesome power of communication media, the power to create a sense of "us" that calls a public into being.

So, we have many 'publics". Media analysts might call them "audiences". Media corporations might call them "market segments".

At the same time, over all the years that we struggled for freedom, we addressed one public. We spoke to one public. We spoke for one public. We called upon the "us" that can only truly be "us" in a unified, democratic, non-racial and non-sexist South Africa.

In the Freedom Charter of 1955, we said: "We, the people of South Africa, declare for all our country and the world to know that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white."

Forty years later, in our Constitution, we said: "We, the people of South Africa, recognise the injustices of our past; honour those who suffered for justice and freedom in our land; respect those who have worked to build and develop our country; and believe that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity."

This is the public we have called into being - We, the people of South Africa. And this is the public that we celebrate in this the tenth year of our freedom and democracy.

This public, this "us", this "We, the people" - is not a media creation. It is not a marketing exercise. It is not an advertising campaign. The profound sense of "us" that we have called into being, together, is a reality in which we can live, together, as South Africans.

I say all of this simply to remind us of the awesome responsibility that goes with the word, "public". For those of us in the public service, public education or public broadcasting, we have entered into a sacred trust with the public that was called into being through so much hope, and so many sacrifices, as "We, the people of South Africa".

To be true to that trust, we must serve the public good. Economists tell us that a public good is a value that in principle everyone can share and in practice no one can be denied. As a long-time defender of public schools, I understand education as a public good. Other examples that are often given of a public good include lighthouses, street signs, and public broadcasting. If it creates value that everyone can share and no one can be denied, then public broadcasting is in fact a public good.

As a public good, public broadcasting is a value that is accessible to everyone. But public broadcasting also serves the public good by expanding the range of values that we can access.

Here public broadcasting can join public education in serving the public good. Public broadcasting, like our public life, raises issues of diversity, equity, social justice, human rights, health, self-respect and respect for others that are at the heart of education. Given that the media has a powerful influence on people's attitudes and perceptions, our public broadcaster therefore shoulders an enormous responsibility in engendering these values.

Much of our media coverage currently is focused on the seemingly insurmountable differences that divide peoples and nations. Little attention has been given to evidence that these differences can be overcome. A serious global discourse needs to be undertaken to explore the use of existing and rapidly emerging media technologies to foster hope. The media must assist people in understanding that diversity need not be a source of conflict.

We commend the SABC for taking on this challenge. By way of illustration, you have recognised that, in working for the public good, you cannot remain neutral when it comes to depicting racism and issues that affect the poor. In this regard, I am reminded of a comment made by an eminent former Director-General of the BBC, Hugh Carleton Grene, who said, at the time of the Nottinghill Gate race riots in London, that the BBC could not maintain its famed neutrality in the face of the blatant racism that led to the riots.

And in fulfilling this mandate as a public broadcaster, the SABC has entered into partnerships, as part of its efforts in serving the public good. Our partnership, as the Ministry of Education, with the SABC has been very important. Together, we have found new ways to advance learning-and the love of learning-among our children and youth. Over the past seven years we have collaborated on a range of educational programmes that have been enjoyed by different audiences, both young and old.

In our partnership, we have found common ground. Together, we have taken forward another essential clause in the Freedom Charter, that of ensuring that 'the doors of learning and culture are opened to all'. We have seen a new synergy developing between the priorities of the Department of Education and the educational programming of the SABC. We have found common purpose in exploring educational values, not only in explicitly educational programmes, but also in music, drama, documentaries, soaps, comedies and story times that our children watch, listen to, enjoy and learn from.

The SABC Education management and staff have demonstrated their understanding of both education and broadcasting by providing us with creative programming of world-class standards. The international recognition given to programmes such as Tobias' Bodies, Soul Buddies, Takalani Sesame, and Yizo Yizo, is evidence of South Africa's ability to excel in the broadcasting world. Through these achievements, the SABC has been able to showcase how we, as South Africans, are dealing with our educational challenges by conveying important social values to diverse audiences and empowering young people with knowledge and skills that will enable them to participate fully in their society and their world.

And in doing so, we are, as partners, meeting one of the greatest challenges currently facing our country; that of creating a learning society, where our people do not cease to expand their understanding or intellectual talents, where lifelong learning is a goal that every South African strives for.

Like Ulysses, that great adventurer in Tennyson's poem, we are aspiring to create within every South African a yearning with desire:

To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought

These educational achievements, which I highlighted earlier, depend upon the contributions of many people, including public intellectuals and public educators, such as Professor Philip Tobias, who is with us tonight. Your work, Professor Tobias, has greatly inspired us and your series, Tobias' Bodies, has helped us to think about where we have come from and who we are as human beings and as Africans. I congratulate the SABC for creating the public space in which we have all been able to learn from such an extraordinary teacher.

I note that the SABC has also created public space for ordinary teachers to be extraordinary. The recent introduction of the "Homework Help Line", a phone-in facility for parents and learners, is a significant innovation by the SABC. Besides providing help with homework, this service shows that teachers are creative professionals, who can teach not only in front of the class but also from behind the microphone. Through such programming, the SABC has challenged our higher education institutions to prepare our teachers not only for the classroom, but also for harnessing the potential of many creative multi-media approaches, which can be used to deliver education.

I take this opportunity to thank everyone who has provided financial support for the educational efforts of the SABC. In large part, this celebration is also about you. We thank all donors, funders and sponsors that have helped advance the mission of our public broadcaster.

To SABC Education, I say: You have aspired to the highest standards, but South Africa and indeed the world is watching and waiting for more from you. I trust that you will continue working to provide high-quality educational programming that will transform the lives of your audiences here in South Africa and the lives of audiences in the rest of Africa and the larger world.

Certainly, we have seen your potential. To cite one small, but significant example: Kami, our HIV-positive puppet, has been appointed as international ambassador for UNAIDS. Kami is emerging as one of the most prominent symbols in the world for helping us understand how we should treat each other, not only in relation to HIV and AIDS, but also in relation to each other as human beings. This example suggests that our public broadcaster has the potential to be not merely an importer of "product" but a major exporter of human and humanising values.

I would also like to say to my colleague, the Minister of Communications, Dr Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, and to the Managing Director and staff of SABC Education: Congratulations for a job well done. Your achievements show that you are well on the way to fulfilling your mandate of meeting the diverse educational needs of all South Africans.

In commending your efforts, I must; however, sound a note of caution. In this regard, I wish to remind you not take the notion of serving the public good for granted. This is because in the global environment in which we operate, we increasingly see the very foundation of the public good being undermined. We must therefore actively work to ensure that this notion remains at the heart of our work. Further, neither must we simply assume that, as part of the SABC's stated function, that of 'entertaining, informing and educating', the need to educate will always remain a priority. We, who know the value and importance of education, need to ensure that it remains at the core of our public broadcaster's mission.

There are those who are blind, deaf and stupid who will not see the important role that the public broadcaster can play in the changes taking place in education. They will dismiss the joy, fun and insights provided by SABC Education. They have the hearts of accountants and they measure educational change simply by the number of textbooks that have been delivered or the number of schools, which have been built. They do not value the role that the SABC plays in making a qualitative difference to the nature of our education system. However, what they do not realise is that, through their perennial complaints, they reflect that it is actually they who cannot see the 'wood for the trees'.

I know that the responsibility confronting you is daunting. In this regard, I am not sure whether indeed the current structure of the SABC into three divisions will meet this need. Purely commercial ventures depend on the lowest common denominator, where the programmes purchased are produced in the intellectual morass of Hollywood. Cross-subsidisation is therefore an essential feature for any true public broadcaster. Without it I am afraid that we will have to depend on private benefactors and development assistance to maintain this critical element, which is clearly not sustainable.

In closing ladies and gentlemen, let us hope, as we celebrate the achievements of the SABC, and as we celebrate our advances in public broadcasting, that our efforts will be worthy of the public trust that is placed in us by the South African public that is called into being every day by the immortal words, "We, the people of South Africa."

I thank you all.

Issued by: Ministry of Education
25 March 2004

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