28 January 2000
When the unemployed volunteers from the Mosupatsela FM community radio station in Botshabelo heard that the IBA had granted them a four-year community broadcasting licence, they were so giddy with delight that within hours, they had spontaneously taken to the airwaves and were broadcasting their joyous tidings to the half a million residents of Botshabelo and Thaba’Nchu.
It took two days to get them off the air and to understand that while they had almost overcome the obstacles to getting the station on air, they still had to wait until the IBA actually issued them their licence before they could begin broadcasting.
On Friday (January 28, 2000), the volunteers were joined by hundreds of Botshabelo residents in welcoming Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri and Free State Premier Winkie Direko who were on hand to witness IBA counselor Ken Herold handing over their broadcasting licence and the beginning of the broadcasting life of the Mosupatsela FM community radio station.
It took two days to get them off air, but more than two long years to even reach that point, according to Nkopane Maphiri, acting CEO of the National Community Radio Forum (NCRF).
"I guess they started around 1997 / 1998, through the initiative of two people; DJ Moloi (a writer) and Solly Mosala (who worked in Bloemfontein). There was a community station called BBT that was located about 50 kilometres outside Botshabelo and while its signal spilled over the community, they didn’t really see it as serving their needs," he says.
Their needs – as with many community broadcasters – were simple. "There is a significant number of unemployed people in Botshabelo and they wanted to hear programming that would help them find jobs, that would help them improve their skills, that was broadcast in their home language of South Sotho, that reflected their vibrant culture and played the locally composed music of their area and country; and that gave them information about how to get housing, basic services and infrastructure in their area," Maphiri says.
Communications Minister Dr Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri says community radio stations have a great responsibility in meeting the need to serve communities that have inherited multiple identities in which a minority identity has dominated all others. "To serve a community a community whose everyday existence is traumatised by crime, rape, murder and hijackings. Learning problems. Rural underdevelopment. Gender inequality. These are challenges that face us as a nation. The question for us today is how are these stations going to help in addressing some of these problems."
Radio is not simply about reflecting people’s realities. Radio is a powerful medium with the capacity to influence what people think, she says. "It is therefore important that broadcasters are responsible with the content of their broadcasts and not only look at the bottom line."
Mosupatsela is one station with the eye on that ball. Today, there are eight people who will comprise the core of the station’s staff. None of them are employed and none of them will receive salaries until the station begins to make money. And they all "work" there full-time, showing the kind of dedication to the very issues that Minister Matsepe-Casaburri raises.
"One of the most rewarding aspects of working with people who want community radio stations is the depth of commitment they have to overcoming any and all obstacles in their way," he says.
All four of the newly-established community stations in the Free State are in fairly rural areas. They sometimes have to deal with the suspicion of village elders and tribal leaders who question the purpose of community radio stations and see the "voice of the people" as a threat to the traditional leadership that is so strong in rural communities.
"Being in a rural area also means that they don’t have any form of meaningful resources or infrastructure, and often this is a real struggle to get set up," Maphiri says.
Of course, money – and a lot of it – is required. But donors ask for a business plan before they will consider releasing any money to a community for a radio station. "And these people don’t know what a business plan is, so we have to help them understand it and even draw it up. "
Usually the knowledge of community radio by the volunteers who are trying to get a station begins with turn of a dial. "So we have to help education them about the difference between community radio, public broadcasting and commercial radio. Of course, they are highly unskilled in electronic media, so there is also a lot of training that has to take place," Maphiri says.
"Perhaps the biggest obstacle is actually finding out how to go about setting up a station and then filling in the forms," he says. "Sometimes it is very difficult for rural communities to find the necessary information about where to begin with their dream. And filling out the licence application form is a particularly difficult task. The forms are all in English, are written in very legalistic language and generally very unfriendly to the user. There are some things that people just don’t understand. But they persevered because they badly wanted to have their own station."
Is all these effort worth it? "Yes," says Maphiri. "More than one million people a voice with which to be heard simply by licensing four new community radio stations. And in a young democracy like ours, this is the pillar on which it will flourish."