Warwick Bruce Chapman

I was invited to chat about opposition politics in eThekwini on Vibe FM community radio in KwaMashu today. Simphiwe “Simza” Dlamini hosts a show called Durban Today where he has interviewed people like Mike Sutcliffe, Helen Zille, Kameel Premhid.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

(The recording is about 40 minutes long)

The radio station is a very impressive little operation in the Khaya Arts Centre in KwaMashu. I am enthused by such operations because they are not only voices for the community and sources of valuable information but in themselves, they are places of learning, growing and teaching. The skills required to run a radio station range from technical to business and the value such a station presents to the many people involved hands on is tremendous.

I am firmly of the belief that such community stations should not be required to pay the presently onerous fees to ICASA and Sentech. Such stations can be required, I am told, to pay up to R120000 per month. I will be asking our Shadow Minister for Communications, Natasha Michael MP, to investigate what the current fee situation is and what changes can be made to support these important community radio stations.