Stakeholders and experts from various quarters including the Department of Communications, the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) and the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) delivered presentations and participated in the discussions.
In his welcome address, SABC chairperson, Dr. Vincent Maphai stated that this workshop was a critical part of the business strategy initiated by the Board two years ago. "The current Board made a number of strategic decisions when we arrived at the SABC. These were to simply stabilize the corporation's finances, staffing and image; and to recruit a top management team. We also decided to manage the broadcasting content and programming without making any immediate changes to our schedules. The second was not to interact with external stakeholders at that stage," explained Maphai. "We had to solidify our management team as Boards can inspire but can never run organisations."
The SABC management team is in place and has already achieved success in stabilising the business. This workshop is therefore a key milestone in the SABC business strategy which has entered its second phase. Maphai continued, "Updating our current language policy is an important step in the transformation process and requires keen participation from all stakeholders."
Language forms a key deliverable in the SABC's mandate to entertain, inform and educate all South Africans through high quality broadcasting. The Corporation has conducted intensive research into the implementation of its current language policy which found that while there have been some notable achievements, the SABC has not adequately catered for all language groups. Delivery has been affected by various issues such as the limited financial capacity of the commercial funding model, staff and management turnover, and skills shortages.
"We acknowledge that we operate within a difficult environment in which we are trying to balance commercial imperatives with delivery on our mandate in our unique South African context," said Mr. Peter Matlare, group chief executive officer. "There have, however, been critical successes in expanding our coverage, the 11 language radio stations and our education portfolio." However, the focus of the workshop was not on the successes of the current delivery but rather the shortcomings and corrective measures required to address these through a new language policy.
"Our initial investigation proves that South Africans generally prefer to watch programmes in their home language," said Matlare. "This preference is particularly true for religious programmes, local entertainment, sport, news, talk shows and developmental programmes." Whilst programming on the SABC television channels is currently slanted towards English, the national broadcaster already has plans to address this through various avenues. "We recently introduced the SeSwati / Ndebele news bulletin in September, a Tshivenda / TsiTsonga news bulletin has been planned for the 2003 financial year, a Nguni current affairs show will be on air from January 2003, while a Sotho languages current affairs show will be on air during the 2003 financial year." Two planned language television channels will also assist in addressing marginalised languages across the SABC stable.
The workshop was an open request to all key stakeholders and players to assist the SABC in developing its revised language policy. A call was made to address several key policy questions identified by the SABC around coverage, strategy and programming and scheduling. Several questions were raised and solutions considered including:
Whilst the SABC initiated the process and identified areas and issues of concern, attendees were requested to share their expertise and learnings through the interactive group sessions chaired by the Board members. Even though the SABC received concurrence from the recurring issues which came through from the presentations and the breakaway sessions, there was considerable discussion and debate with positive feedback and constructive recommendations were put on the table.
Some of the strategies and suggestions put forward included:
The overall response was extremely positive with stakeholders asking for further discussions with the SABC in the formulation of the language policy.
Mr. Ashwin Trikamjee, the chairperson of the SABC Board's programming sub-committee concluded the workshop by thanking all participants for their time and valuable input and reiterated the SABC's commitment to formulating a solid, comprehensive language policy through consultation. "Language summarises the dignity and self-esteem of every individual. There have been strong opinions expressed here today and we want to ensure you that everything will be taken into account in developing this policy," concluded Trikamjee.
