Hon Speaker, the ANC applauds the important announcement made by the State-Owned Entities Communicators Association and the State-Owned Enterprises Procurement Forum for heeding the call by the Portfolio Committee on Communications for a minimum of 30% government advertising to be allocated to community and small commercial media.
This commitment to increase their support for community media will go a long way towards ensuring that community and small commercial media become sustainable and continue to play the critical role of educating and providing information to our communities.
The ANC further believes that this decision will enhance the agenda of promoting the media diversity that is envisaged in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act of 1996 and the Media Development and Diversity Agency Act of 2002, as it will contribute to the sustainability of community and small commercial media. In so doing it will ensure sustainable media diversity, improve communications with communities and build an informed, mobilised and active South African citizenry, thus making South Africa a better place to live in now than it was before 1994. Thank you. [Applause.]