Minister Chabane tabled the MDDA's unqualified Annual Report 2011/12

This included the Auditor General's (AGSA) Report on the Financial Statements and Performance Information measured against predetermined objectives on how the Agency performed in key areas such as grant funding, research and training, advocacy for media development and diversity, fundraising, public awareness, promoting media literacy, customer perspective, internal business processes, human resources, financial management, audit quality assurance, employment equity and broad-based black economic empowerment for the 2011-12 period under review.

The agency has again obtained an unqualified audit opinion, yet another proof of the MDDA's commitment to being one of the leading examples in the area of financial reporting, good governance and accountability within the public sector. MDDA has been in existence for nine years and this is the nineth (9) financial year it receives unqualified audit opinion from AGSA.

Amongst notable achievements in the year under review, the agency has provided financial and non-financial support like grant funding; capacity building, skills development and training; conduct and fund research; technical support and advice; advocacy and lobbying for an enabling environment for community and small commercial media. As at the 31st March 2012, the agency provided support to over 413 projects countrywide and awarded grants amounting to more than R201m since inception in 2004. It has trained 1 764 individuals (including 247 print and radio managers bursaries) in areas ranging from corporate governance, marketing and advertising, financial management, compliance, etc. The agency continues to conduct several research works that are a reference point for the industry, policy makers and academia, ran a number of programmes promoting media literacy and culture of reading throughout the country, and provided coaching and mentorship (where mentors are sent to assist projects learn on running a successful project, develop policies, systems and procedures, and design templates that will make it easy for projects to use on the departure of the mentors, kind of hold my hand assistance). The MDDA also continued on its mandate to advocate for a regulatory environment supporting community media.

The MDDA also used its advertising and marketing toolkits to assist and train people running these projects. Another toolkit on corporate governance is being developed this financial year. The Agency also has strategic relationships with bodies such as Media and ICT Seta (MICTSETA) on skills development, IEC on using community and small commercial media for its democracy programme (civic education and knowledge management), etc. MDDA also convinced Government to use community and small commercial media in respect of its advertising as this media serves the very targeted communities for government communication. Many of the MDDA interventions have yielded positive results for the development of the sector and the promotion of media diversity. MDDA also specifically support the production of media in indigenous languages.

Listed milestones in the pursuit of developing and promoting media diversity include an agreement with the Print Media South Africa (now called PDMSA) to use the MDDA Act of 2002 as a basis to define community media. This agreement will assist in ensuring that appropriate advertising is spent in community media. The MDDA will launch an online register of all community and small commercial publishers to inform a database that will be publicly available.

The readership and listenership of supported projects has grown, community radio seeing a significant 5% year on year listenership growth according to RAMS figures. The current reported listenership of community radio is 8.5 million (RAMS, May 2012).

MDDA prides itself of having had great and focused leadership (from the Presidency, GCIS to its Board) ever since its inception resulting in it performing to its maximum and attaining unqualified audit reports from the Auditor General of SA for nine financial years of existence.