Pretoria FM wins battle for broadcasting rights against Primedia

13 April 2022

In a landmark ruling by the Complaints and Compliance Committee of ICASA (“the CCC”), chaired by retired High Court Judge Thokozile Masipa, complaints laid by Primedia (the registered licensee in respect of the commercial radio stations Highveld (92.4); 702; KFM and Cape Talk), against Pretoria FM, were dismissed. 

Pretoria FM is a community sound broadcaster, licensed to broadcast to a community of interest, described as “Boere Afrikaners” in and around Pretoria, as well as in district municipal areas around Tzaneen, Polokwane, Thabazimbi, Modimole-Mookgopong, Ermelo, Greylingstad, Newcastle, Koster and Rustenburg.

Judge Mosipa ruled in her judgement, handed down yesterday that –

“The first thing that stands out is that Pretoria FM is the licensee in all the cases. The second is that the community to be served by the licence and by the broadcast is defined in clause 4 of the licence. It is provided that the licence shall provide services to a Boere Afrikaner community of interest residing within the geographic areas specified herein.

In view of the above, the allegation that Pretoria FM is contravening its licence conditions and the regulations is without foundation. Pretoria FM is licensed to broadcast in the seven areas while the district municipalities where the broadcasts take place are clearly defined…

While the listeners reside in several geographic locations, they are in fact one community which share a specific interest, such as culture, and Boere music. Because the number of people forming the specific community of interest is not big enough to allow the transmitters to become fully fledged, independent autonomous community broadcasters, Pretoria FM has continued to share 100% of its programmes with its affiliates…

It seems to me that in the present case, ICASA dealt with Pretoria FM on its own merits and granted it a special dispensation to enable it to operate the way it does. I say this for the reasons below.

The modus operandum of Pretoria FM has never been a secret. It operates the way it does openly even to the extent of making public announcements on the issue. When its footprint increased, and it started to broadcast in several areas, it went public. In my view, it is highly unlikely that a wrong doer would publicly announce its illegal conduct as a milestone.

Before it was granted a licence, Pretoria FM made submissions to ICASA in support of its application. This process would have been repeated at the time Pretoria FM applied for a renewal of the licence. None of this was controverted by the Complainant.”

Judge Masipa and her panel of five committee members dismissed the complaints laid by Primedia and the Board of ICASA approved her finding.

The Executive Chairperson of Pretoria FM, Willie Spies said in a statement the station was delighted about the outcome of the hearing (which was conducted on 23 September last year).

“This is the climax of our epic legal battle for Pretoria FM’s right to broadcast to a cultural community of interest across South Africa”, Spies stated. “The legal contest started in 2004 and consisted of nine hearings, 4 in the High Court, 2 in the Supreme Court of Appeal and 2 in the Constitutional Court and this time before the CCC”.

“Pretoria FM proved that one should never give up in your struggle for recognition of your fundamental rights. We thank our listeners and supporters for their prayers and unwavering support”, Spies added.

Issued by Willie Spies, 13 April 2022