Pretoria – The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa notes with great concern the unfortunate misinformation and misrepresentation of facts that have been spread on various media platforms about the reasons for the imminent closure of Zibonele Community Radio (Zibonele FM) in the Western Cape.
The Authority views these allegations in a serious light and condemns any threat of violence or illegal action that may be taken against any official of ICASA as a result of the misinformation or misrepresentation.
The Authority would like to emphatically put it on record that we have no intention whatsoever to shut down any community broadcasting service licensee operating validly and in accordance with its licence terms and conditions.
Further, the Authority has always been a staunch supporter of the community broadcasting sector, whose licensees provide a crucial voice with limited resources, and which offers important support to the communities it serves.
Zibonele FM’s licence expired on 25 October 2018. Unfortunately, Zibonele FM failed to submit the required renewal application for its licence in accordance with section 19(2) of the Electronic Communications Act of 2005. Moreover, Zibonele FM failed to provide proof that its renewal application was submitted to the Authority before the expiry date of the licence. The ECA offers the Authority no scope to accept late applications in cases such as this.
In terms of section 7 of the ECA, no person can provide (or operate) a broadcasting service without a licence. As a result, Zibonele FM is currently broadcasting unauthorised, and ICASA is duly obligated to enforce the law.
It is important to highlight that Zibonele Community Radio lodged an urgent application to the Pretoria High Court against the Authority on the same matter. The Urgent Application was subsequently struck off the roll with a legal cost order in favour of the Authority.
Acting Chairperson Charley Lewis emphasises that, “While ICASA is fully committed to promoting the growth of the community radio sector, which plays a critical role in empowering and giving a voice to our communities, we cannot encourage or permit broadcasting without a licence or illegal use of the radio frequency spectrum”.
Ends…
For all media enquiries, please contact: