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Programme Director,
Chairperson of the SABC Board,
Members of the SABC Board,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen:

Let me join everyone else in the Northern Province in welcoming you - members of the SABC Board to our Province. We are all pleased to host this board meeting, in so many years. We are delighted in hosting you and we are hopeful that our concerns and suggestions will meet with your sympathetic consideration.

At the outset, I should underscore our deep appreciation for the role played by the public broadcaster in nation building. Therefore, the comments we make should be seen in this context.

We are convinced that as a public broadcaster, your mandate is to inform, educate and entertain all South Africans in a way that is responsive to public needs. Accordingly, in the discharge of this mandate you cannot be seen as discriminating in terms of language, race, creed, and sex.

We all accept that language and culture are the central components of communication, and they have also been used in the past as means of domination. Conversely, language and culture can be used as instruments and vehicles for liberation. Our people in this province are looking forward to the day when their languages and culture would receive equal treatment with their compatriots in the country.

In this regard, the SABC has done tremendously well with regard to the promotion of all eleven official languages through its radio service; however, in its television service there is ample room for improvement.

The Board will be well advised to take seriously concerns over lack of language representivity in the SABC television programmes. It is not desirable to have the "Sotho" languages jostling for news slots late at night.

The marginalisation of Tsonga and Venda languages by the SABC through television programmes is one of the matters you might need to attend to with urgency.

In the same vein, you must reconsider the kind of programme you package for the minority languages, in order to ensure that such programmes are reflective of the cultural dynamics of the target viewers. The current Mopani programme fails the test on this score.

Part of the reason for this, is that these programmes are compiled in the centre by people who have little appreciation for local dynamics. Secondly, these programmes are given as a reason why news from this province is rarely broadcast on national television, except when they reflect poorly on the province as in the story of witchcraft.

Our considered view is that any programme which assists our condemnation to the twilight zone, should not be sustained. When we ask why are our good efforts not shown on national TV, we are told that Mopani caters for that. In this sense, this programme enables the public broadcaster a peaceful sleep in the face of our unjustified marginalisation.

The projection of accurate political, social and economic dynamics, be they national, provincial and local, is critical to the informative role the SABC must play in ensuring access to public information as a public broadcaster. However, the SABC's promotion of the right of access to public information must be embedded in its responsibility towards nation building.

Nation building requires that the public broadcaster take its place of pride along other institutions seeking to protect and to promote our young country. As we criticise or even applaud, we should do so moved by our conscience to promote the general good. In this sense you can contribute to the building of a people driven and a people centred society. An example of this positive and patriotic role is the "Thari ya tsela" campaign. Thobela Fm, the churches, and the government jointly run this campaign.

We accept that you have an obligation to be critical where government fails the public. Accordingly, we stand ready to protect and defend your special role in the country. We shall do so even as on occasions we become subject of criticism.

On the other hand, as a board of the SABC, you have a very important role to play in inculcating the spirit of patriotism, which insists on maintaining a balance between negative and positive reporting - unless you are convinced that there is no good coming out of South Africa.

Some of us are convinced that we have achieved milestones in our country and we are continuing to do so. For instance, the process of integrating South Africans to become a true nation is continuing with relative success. National pride and identity is being forged with unprecedented success. It is the sacred duty of each and every South African to promote our common loyalty to our country.

One is concerned by the way the media in this country is treating people living with HIV. Perhaps with good intentions of emphasising prevention, we err on the side of giving little hope for those already affected. The message of hope is not coming out strong enough. What we hear is that if you are positive, you are dead. We must find a way of supporting those living positively without de-emphasising prevention.

I am aware that the three radio stations in the province are being integrated. I have no doubt that this process will have its own teething problems. The secret towards success is even-handedness. This balance must be maintained in the allocation of both human and material resources to the new entity.

Always remember that you are managing a complex social and economic entity. During integration loyalty and animosities are formed, however this depends on the mandate you have, how you manage the process, and the benefits of such integration.

I thank you for the invitation and for giving me a hearing.

Thank you.

Issued by Office of the Premier, Northern Province

2 October 2001