Proposal for Diversity Agency in South Africa Sparks Debate




A draft law in South Africa to create a Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA) has sparked varying views over whether the agency will be independent from political control
as it tries to expand diversity in the nation's media.

Discussions about the draft law, recently submitted to Parliament, come in the context of a simmering debate in South Africa regarding the issue of "transformation," as it is called. Critics of the media say there hasn't been enough done to promote racial diversity in the nation's newsrooms.

The draft bill provides for the establishment of an independent agency that will through support, facilitation and research, help create an enabling environment for media development and
diversity in South Africa.

The Johannesburg daily, Business Day, reported that print and broadcasting media are giving solid support to the creation of a specialized agency to promote media diversity. Opposition
politicians and civil society groups, however, have raised concerns about whether the proposed agency would be independent from political control. They are also uneasy about
the wide powers the bill would give to Telecommunications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri.

The chairman of the Portfolio Committee, Nkenke Kekane, emphasized the need for the agency to strengthen democracy and promote a diversity of opinion, particularly at grassroots level.

The bill stipulates that the MDDA will be an independent statutory body funded jointly from government and other sources. It will be governed by a nine-person board appointed through an open process by Parliament and the president. Four seats will be reserved for nominees from community media, commercial broadcast media and commercial print media and the
Government Communication and Information System (GCIS), a department of the presidency.

A critic of the draft bill, Jane Duncan, executive director of the Freedom of Expression Institute, said the agency, as presently proposed, would not be independent from government and
political interference, Business Day reported.

Duncan said that the most pressing area of concern is that numerous clauses limit the decision-making autonomy of the MDDA's board. These include clauses that allow the minister to
prescribe detailed criteria for selecting projects to be funded and the percentages of money to be given to each sector. Duncan is also concerned that the bill leaves the source of the agency's
funding unclear.

Negotiations are on going between government and the industry over the financing of the agency and the content of the subordinate regulations, which will flesh out the workings of the agency, Business Day reported.

Comments on the law should be submitted to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee onCommunications by February 27. The Portfolio Committee will be holding public hearings on the bill.

The bill is available on the GCIS at http://www.gcis.gov.za/
For more information on the bill debate, visit
http://allafrica.com/stories/200202060264.html

February 2002