An exposition of South African English radio drama tracing the historical, cultural and political issues which led to the demise of the art form in 1999, and its resurrection at ICASA’s insistence in 2006. The research demonstrates the ideological influences of both British Imperialism and Afrikaner Nationalism on the development of South African radio drama, drawing parallels between the development of Afrikaans radio drama, Zulu radio drama and English radio drama. The study also deconstructs the role played by English language radio drama in underpinning the ideologies of whiteness, and illustrates attempts made towards transformation from 1985. The recent development of an essentially South African form of radio drama is described, and the effects of new ideological constraints imposed by the SABC are discussed. The study also provides a critical lens through which the SABC’s failure to observe its public service mandate is made evident. / Afrikaans and Literature / M. A. (Afrikaans & Theory of Literature)

The privatisation and liberalisation of telecommunications throughout the world has resulted in the growing involvement of competition authorities in telecommunications regulation, alongside telecommunications sector-specific regulators. The existence of both sector specific rules and competition rules has brought about a critical institutional challenge. The increased role of competition authorities in the telecommunications sector raises the issue of inconsistent jurisdiction in the sector. Conflicts are therefore inevitable in the absence of clear delineation of jurisdiction. The South African model for regulation in the telecommunications sector entails a sharing of jurisdiction between the sector-specific regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), and the competition-wide regulator, the Competition Commission. The study thus determines the interplay between the Competition Commission and ICASA as well as the competitiveness of South African telecommunications. / Communication Science / M.A. (International Communication))

The privatisation and liberalisation of telecommunications throughout the world has resulted in the growing involvement of competition authorities in telecommunications regulation, alongside telecommunications sector-specific regulators. The existence of both sector specific rules and competition rules has brought about a critical institutional challenge. The increased role of competition authorities in the telecommunications sector raises the issue of inconsistent jurisdiction in the sector. Conflicts are therefore inevitable in the absence of clear delineation of jurisdiction. The South African model for regulation in the telecommunications sector entails a sharing of jurisdiction between the sector-specific regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), and the competition-wide regulator, the Competition Commission. The study thus determines the interplay between the Competition Commission and ICASA as well as the competitiveness of South African telecommunications. / Communication Science / M.A. (International Communication))

MA (Linguistics) / Department of Communication and Applied Languages Studies / The question of the use of languages in radio broadcasting is of particular importance in multilingual communities in Vhembe district of Limpopo province. The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) issues broadcasting licenses, and further regulates conditions of implementation of these licenses. The purpose of this study is to explore the extent to which community radio stations in Vhembe district adhere to ICASA language policies and guidelines stipulated in their licenses. Literature was drawn from government language policy documents (Acts, rules and regulations), broadcasting legislative framework manuals (ICASA), government gazettes, books, journals, magazines, and newspapers. The design for the study is exploratory, whereas the target population comprised of seven (7) community radio stations, fifteen (15) radio programmes, and station managers of community radio stations in the Vhembe district. Purposive sampling was used to select three community radio stations, three programmes per station and station manager of each sampled station. Non-participant observation, documents analysis and tape recorder were used as instruments for data collection, whereby the researcher observed, recorded a total of (nine) 9 talk format programmes. The researcher further analysed documents (broadcasting licenses and programme schedules), from sampled radio stations, to examine stipulated language quotas by ICASA. Lastly, the researcher employed unstructured interviews to collect data from the station managers of community radio stations, in the Vhembe district. The sampled data was analysed through qualitative content analysis and interpreted subsequently. Findings from data analysis determined that community radio stations partially adhere to the policies stipulated in their licenses. / NRF