Twenty years ago, South Africans listened to the first community radio broadcast of Bush Radio. Established for social uplifment and to offer communities an alternative voice, community radio has indeed come a long way. From its humble beginnings, this media sector now boasts over 140 radio stations reaching an astounding eight million listeners. These gains would not have been possible without the tenacious efforts of the Department of Communications, the Media Development & Diversity Agency and the National Community Radio Forum; amongst others.  Concomitant with twenty years of community radio, the NCRF also celebrated twenty years of existence, having been in the forefront of community radio issues; especially on the advancement of this media sector which continues to be a critical component of the broadcasting industry.

The Department of Communications also continues to play a pivotal role in community media development. These sentiments were echoed by the various speakers who took to the platform at the gala dinner. Addressing community radio leaders, Deputy Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams took the audience through a nostalgic journey of the importance of the community radio sector in protecting the principles of democracy and offering an alternative voice. She further proclaimed that through both policy and legislation, Government would continue to create an enabling environment to facilitate the sector’s development. “The Electronic Communications Act amendment bill passed by the National Assembly now exempts community broadcasters from contributing to the universal service access fund,” said Ndabeni-Abrahams. 

Since the establishment of the community radio support programme in 1998, the Department has invested over R400 million into the sector. “Today there are over 140 community radio stations licensed in South Africa and over 75% of them have received support from the Department of Communications. In addition, the Department provides subsidy for signal distribution costs for community radio stations located in rural and nodal areas,” she concluded.

The Gala dinner which took place in Moselsport, Bloemfontein, preceded the NCRF’s National Conference which would redefine the existing organisational direction and elect new Board members.