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Date : 10/02/2005
Source: Department of Communications
Title: Padayachie: Hand over ceremony of a Radio Studio to Parliamentary Office

Address by the Deputy Minister of Communications, Mr Roy Padayachie, at the Hand over ceremony of a Radio Studio to the Parliamentary Office of the Government Communication Information Services (GCIS)

10 February 2005


Honourable Ministers
Esteemed Stakeholders involved in this project.

Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is a great pleasure for me to be part of this important occasion in the life of our Government, our country and our people.

We are here today to witness the results of a set of social delivery goals that will guarantee the social development gains that we have achieved so far, as a country, are forever recorded in the annals of history as those that characterise a truly democratic society. When the time comes that our social history is documented, an important focus of that analysis will be how well we unfolded the social contract that we as Government entered to, with the people in our country.

We will be measured by the rate or by the level of social change we were able or were willing to effect so as to make our country "a better place for all the people who live in it."
We won the struggle for freedom. We have governed ourselves for just a decade now. Our policy framework is firmly in place. It is now the time for a strong, active, positive and visible implementation of our policies for transformation. It is now time to continue the momentum of change in more and more positive ways.

Honourable Ministers, Ladies and Gentlemen, Alvin Toffler, the well renowned futurist thinker, in his book, Powershift, had this to say, "a society's transition to a knowledge based economy sharply increases the demand for communication and swamps the old image delivery systems."
Yes, today is about increasing the demand for communication and swamping the old image delivery systems, which led so painfully to the complete marginalisation of great numbers of the people.

The journey to this day, to the opening of this Radio Studio has been a long one; yet worthwhile in all respects. It was in June 2000 that the GCIS and DoC formed a Task Team to work on a proposed model for a satellite communication network that would link the community radio sector and the SABC (PBS) stations, in particular the African Language Stations to the seat of Government. The design of the service was to link grassroots communities with Government, Parliament in Cape Town, with Pretoria and even with the Provincial Legislatures. This initiative will make it possible to have live discussions beamed nationally.

This is a dynamic project. It is astounding in its development impact and in its technological properties. The project will ensure that the public, especially the previously disadvantaged communities, have access to Government information and educational material. I cannot emphasise strongly enough how important this is going to be in increasing the information base of our people.

Furthermore, the service is expected to be interactive and to allow the vital participation of communities in the exchange, provision and distribution of information. For me, this is the most electrifying aspect of this project. As the result of the unequal pace of development that characterised our country in the past, we all know very well how valuable it is going to be when the communication process can go both ways. As they say in communication jargon, "two-way communication".

I see this development initiative as one, which builds upon and further strengthens our imbizo process, which is excellent for exercising community participation. Now we have gone one step further in demonstrating our commitment to listen, to hear the thinking and the views of the people and to learn from them. This access to decision-makers through the network of community radio stations will forever be a turning point in Government communication since it will narrow the information gap between Government and the public.

The participation of Ministers, I am told, will occur through Ministerial talk shows in which community stations will participate through the network.

Community radio stations have a huge potential for the support of cultural and educational information exchange. We will make certain that programming is based on community access and that it reflects the special needs and interests of our constituencies. The fact that these radio stations will be using our African languages as a medium of communication is a great plus because people will receive information in languages they understand. This is in keeping with our Constitution and our content strategy and other legislation that promotes the use of all indigenous languages of South Africa.

Because community radio stations service these basic information needs that communities have, they are on the rise worldwide. They are "a most appealing tool for participatory information and development. They are the ideal medium of change" according to one, Frederick Noronha who has done extensive work on how radio, the internet and other technologies are assisting the less privileged in our societies to access critical information so that they are able to make informed choices that will help them to improve their lives. The digital migration strategy, which we are developing, will provide further possibilities for harnessing and improving the availability of channels. Obviously these channels will need more content in order to be effective. This is therefore one other opportunity that government can look to in order to improve our communication with our constituencies and thereby deepen even further our democracy.

With digital migration, which broadens the use of the spectrum, this allows for more stations which then can be focused on servicing the particular information needs of communities so that they have access to information relevant to their particular regions.

Minister Pahad, I am delighted it is a pleasure that I share with my Minister, the Honourable Ms. Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, as well as the Department of Communications to hand over this Radio Studio to the GCIS. The Radio Studio placed directly in Parliament will facilitate the process to cascade important information and deliver the desired radio products to the project office for broadcasting.

The task of the GCIS is a tremendous one; to ensure that the public is adequately informed and is in a position to access information for the socio-economic development. The GCIS has successfully met the conditions of its mandate and we are all confident, that once again, GCIS will stand tall and meet the challenge.

Finally, I wish to commend the spirit of partnership that has been evidenced in the successful conclusion of this five-year long and challenging process. The President, Mr Thabo Mbeki, has reinforced the thinking for an integrated and co-ordinated approach to development for effective service delivery. The technical team who worked tirelessly to bring this dream to fruition deserves a special tribute.

I am very happy that this project is one other success story in bridging the digital divide and bringing more and more of our people on board the Information Society.

Thank you

Issued by: Department of Communications
10 February 2005
Source: Department of Communications (http://www.doc.gov.za)
 

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