In terms of the Act, the Authority was not allowed to grant any new broadcasting licences until this report was completed, and certain other actions taken. This was intended to ensure that the Authority provides for the future of the public broadcaster, as well as future South African cultural production and a diversity of ownership of broadcasting licences. However, under the Amendment to the Act signed the day before the Council of the Authority met, it was empowered to grant temporary licences to community broadcasters. It then invited applications and set about licencing community radio stations. At the time of writing this report, the Authority has granted 80 new licences.
Half are already on the air, and new ones begin broadcasting almost every week.
The Authority regards this as a breakthrough for South Africa in several respects. First, it means that for the first time all South Africans, indeed women and men from an extraordinary diverse range of backgrounds, are now determining what to put on the airwaves for their own communities. Second, they can set the broadcasting priorities, for education, for information, for religious or cultural expression, and they determine what languages will be broadcast. Third, bearing in mind that in the history of South Africa there have been less than 40 radio stations, that figure has been trebled in a matter of months. Many of these stations will develop and grow and play an important role in their communities.