SABC issues statement on ANCYL meeting

In the meeting, which was called by the ANC Youth League to raise concerns about the perceived lack of South African music aired across its stations, the SABC says it told the league that it, the broadcaster, is committed to promoting South African music and musicians. It also used the meeting to emphasise that it has consistently exceeded the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa quota of 40% local music content for public radio stations.

In a statement issued over the weekend, the SABC claimed that “many of [our] public service radio stations do air close to 70% local music content and several have exceeded this quota” but the broadcaster says it has not made any final decision on implementing a quota of 70% local music content across its public broadcasting channels.

The ANC Youth League, however, wants the SABC to develop a music policy to guide its approach to South African music content, but the SABC statement points out that “a policy process, with participation from the music industry, had commenced under the previous Board and that the SABC is committed to finalising this to meet its mandate of promoting South African music”. The Interim Board will, however, ensure that issues raised by the ANC Youth League “are emphasised” when it hands over its functions to a new Board.

The statement emphasises that the SABC is “committed to continue to strive to showcase South African music and musicians and to progressively air more local music content”.

The ANCYL view

In its statement on the ANCYL website, the league in turn says that “The ANC YL and SABC Board established and developed a principled agreement on the need to increase the quota of local music in the SABC. For Public Broadcasting Stations (PBS), the Board agreed to increase the quota of local music to 70% and further agreed to gradually to increase local music quota on all SABC Public Commercial Stations (PCS) guided by a Music Policy, which should be adopted after consultations with all relevant stakeholders” and goes on to claim that both parties “agreed to the establishment of National Youth Radio Station”.

Read the full ANCYL statement here.