Modulasetilo, Tona Rre Chabane, Maloko a Palamente ka kakareretso le badiredi ba bagolo ba puso, ke a leboga. Ka re go lona batlotlegi Nickey le Kilian, ditsala tsa me, nyaa, lo e latlhile gompieno. (Translation of Setswana paragraph follows.)
[Ms S R TSEBE: Chairperson, Minister Chabane, Members of Parliament in general; and high ranking government officials, I thank you. To hon Nickey and Kilian, my friends, you messed up.]
This is not about Malema. This is the Government Communication and Information System Budget Vote. Hon Kilian, you even forgot to tell us whether you support this Budget Vote or not, because your main focus was on Malema and nothing else. [Applause.]
Puso e e eteleletsweng pele ke ANC, e e tlhophilweng ke batho ka temokerasi, e na le maikarabelo a matona mo set?habeng a go bona gore mafaratlhatlha a puso mo nageng ya rona a tsamanya ka tsela e e siameng, le go bona gore batho ba rona kwa metsemagaeng ba na le kitso ka tsotlhe tse di diragalang mo pusong.
Ka go rialo, go maleba gore lekala le tshwana le Media Development and Diversity Agency, MDDA, le diragatse maitlamo a mo boemong jwa puso; go bona gore bagarona, bogolo segolo ba ba nnang kwa metsemagaeng, ba ba neng ba ikgatolositswe ke dipuso tsotlhe tse di fetileng, ba kgone go bona tswelelopele mo mererong e e amanang le kgaso. Ka puo ya seeng, ba re buang ka bona ba ke ... (Translation of Setswana paragraphs follows.)
[The ANC-led government, which is elected democratically by the people, has a huge responsibility to ensure that the governmental networks are managed correctly; and that our people in the rural areas are informed of the developments in government.
Having said that, it is relevant for an institution such as the Media Development and Diversity Agency, MDDA, to take it upon itself to ensure that our people, especially those in the rural areas who were historically disadvantaged, should benefit from the progress made on issues relating to broadcasting. In a foreign language, we refer to ...]
... the historically disadvantaged communities and individuals.
Re akaretsa ba?a, bomme le batho ba ba sa itekanelang mo mebeleng. [We include the youth, women and those who are physically challenged.]
The media in South Africa has not been able to articulate, in a fair and consistent manner, the true nature of socioeconomic discourse in ensuring that all views receive equal space and coverage. This is partly because of what the hon Kholwane said in that there is skewed ownership and control, even though the Z-Coms research of 2009 stated that with regard to radio, historically disadvantaged individuals owned 58%, and with regard to TV they owned 64%. We still have the experience ... ... gore bagarona kwa tlase kwa ga ba yo mo mererong ya kgaso ... [... that ordinary people are not involved in broadcasting affairs ...]
... especially in ownership and control.
Commercial media has often been criticised for its tendency to pursue their commercial interests to the detriment of editorial quality. Therefore, community media - the media owned and controlled by historically disadvantaged individuals, of course - will assist in broadening access to information and ensure that all South Africans have equal access to a diverse choice of media, be they commercial, public or community.
Our government also needs to support community media through leveraging its advertisement power to community media, as it was resolved at the 2007 Polokwane conference. It is a worrying factor, though, hon Minister, that most of the advertisements by government are only posted in two national newspapers. And the people of Mokgalwaneng, where I come from, and people in the most rural areas of the North West, do not have access to them. This must change.
Go ya ka pegelo ya MDDA: [According to the MDDA report:]
As of 31 March 2009, we have supported 239 projects and awarded grants amounting to R77 million cumulatively. Go tswa mo go wena Tona re batla go itse gore ke mokgwa ofe o o tsentsweng tirisong go bona gore madi a tshwana le a, a dirisiwa ka tsela e e maleba e bile a dirisediwa tlhabololo ya diyalemowa le dipampirikgaso kwa metsemagaeng, jaaka North West on Sunday. Gongwe fa o garela, o tla kgona gore o re netefaletse fa ... (Translation of Setswana paragraph follows.)
[We want to know from you, Minister, what measure has been put in place to ensure that such monies are used accordingly and are used to improve radio broadcasts and newspapers, such as the North West on Sunday, in the rural areas. I hope in your conclusion, you will be able to assure us that ...]
... the beneficiary projects actually account for the received grants in totality.
Ga go na sente e e salelang kwa morago ntle le go tsaya maikarabelo. [There should not be cent which is unaccounted for.]
An agency like the Media Development and Diversity Agency needs to be capacitated to provide ongoing support and aftercare to ensure that funded projects remain sustainable in the long term and are able to generate revenue for their continued operation, as the Minister also mentioned in his presentation today. The support for these small-scale media should be ongoing. We would also like to express our appreciation for the establishment of a monitoring and evaluation unit to monitor the funded projects.
The ANC national conference in Limpopo recommended that there should be a sustainable increase in funding for the MDDA to fulfil its strategic mandate, as stated in the Act. However, it is noted that there is no allocation for the agency for 2012-13 in the estimates of national expenditure 2010 Budget, published by the Minister of Finance.
Ke ka moo re reng, jaaka mokgatlho o o eteletseng puso pele, re tsere tsweetso, ka gongwe o ka re tlhalosetsa gore go senyegile fa kae gore lekala le tshwana le MDDA le na le maikaelelo a go tlhabolola bobegakgang kwa metsemagaeng a rona le sa kgona go bona kabelo jaaka makala a mangwe a GCIS. A naa kwa ntle ga kabo e, MDDA e tla kgona go diragatsa maitlhomo a yona? (Translation of Setswana paragraph follows.)
[It is against this background that, as the party which is in government, you have to explain to us why an institution such as the MDDA, whose intention it is to improve news reporting in the rural areas, did not get funding as was the case with the GCIS. Is it possible for the MDDA to operate without this funding?]
The great challenge faced by the MDDA is to make itself visible to a wide spectrum of community media in the country. It must have a programme to popularise its work and ensure that it penetrates deeply into the rural areas, where the need for its service is even greats, ensuring that each and every South African citizen has access to a diverse range of media, as it is currently not well known to its constituency.
Bagarona le batho ba ba maleba ga ba na kitso e e nepegetseng ka MDDA. Ke a le kgwetlha gompieno. Ke Maloko a Palamente a le makae a a itseng ka lekala le la MDDA. Ke ka moo re reng ke maikarabelo a GCIS go bona gore e ba thusa go dira gore lekala le le itsege. Go itsewe gore diporojeke di tswa jang, madi a dirisiwa jang le gore batho ba ba maleba ba dikgwebopotlana ba kgone go dira dikopo. Fela bonnete ba kgang ke gore bontsi ba batho ga ba na kitso e e tebileng ka lekala le la MDDA. (Translation of Setswana paragraph follows.)
[Our people and other relevant people do not have the correct information on the MDDA and, therefore, I would like to challenge you today. How many Members of Parliament know about the MDDA? This is the reason we believe it is the GCIS's responsibility to ensure that it is known. It must be clear how projects are awarded, how the monies are used and it must help the relevant small business people to apply. The truth is most people do not know anything about the MDDA.]
With regard to media diversity and access by disadvantaged communities, there is a long way to go towards making digital content accessible in the rural and township environments. Also, with regard to challenges, transformation of media ownership and control needs to be more focused.
In conclusion, allow me to applaud the MDDA for its joint work with the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs in promoting the use of indigenous languages, although more still needs to be done. We also applaud it for receiving unqualified reports since its establishment, and for making sure that the Limpopo resolutions with regard to the establishment of community radio stations became a reality within a short space of time by establishing 52 community radio stations and 52 community newspapers in 52 municipalities.
Ke a leboga. [Legofi.] [I thank you. [Applause.]]