Amended Electronic Communications Act creates an enabling environment for community broadcasting

President Jacob Zuma has, in terms of Section 84(2) (a) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, signed into law the Electronic Communications Amendment Act, 2014 (Act No.1 of 2014). The act seeks, among other things, to amend the Electronic Communications Act, 2005 so as to align it with broad-based black economic empowerment initiatives and specifically Section 89 is amended to exempt holders of community broadcasting service licences who have been granted licenses by ICASA from paying the prescribed annual contributions of the licensee's licensed activity to the MDDA and/or Universal Service and Access Fund (USAF).

The act also provides that broadcasting service licensees contributing to the MDDA will have their annual MDDA contribution set off against their prescribed annual contribution to the USAF. MDDA will only collect the prescribed contributions from the other broadcasting service licensees in terms of its agreement with the broadcasting service licensees, who have continued to partner and support the MDDA in pursuit of its mandate as enshrined in the MDDA Act No. 14 of 2002.