Maputaland Community Radio (MCR) As A Communication Vehicle

A community radio station is an important vehicle of promise in rural development communication. Community radio can be of great value in places where literacy levels are low and populations are isolated and lack basic services. The MCR is the only radio station based in the Jozini area. It has the potential to be an important vehicle for community expression and participation in decision making. As MCR (2010) notes, ‘the idea of community radio is to overcome the challenges of communication in the area given the fact that the communication infrastructure like telephone, cell phone coverage, roads…’ is poorly developed. The role of the community radio is also articulated by MCR, in its mandate as one that ‘seeks to address the socio-economic challenges facing our areas. Our programming is designed in a way that educates, develops, empowers, mobilizes and uplifts the social and economic lives of individuals, families and the community at large’ (MCR 2010).

The MCR also provides an opportunity to evaluate the extent to which community radio can be used as a communication vehicle in communities affected by poverty. The focus group discussions and interviews show that, the poorer and more remote the community/individual, the more marginalised they are from many aspects of daily life. This serves to undermine individual dignity. The fact that poor people have unequal access to decision-making and policy influence means they experience greater levels of exclusion in the development process. They (and the organisations that work with them or on their behalf) have to work that much harder to be heard and to influence public attitudes and policy opinion.

Maputaland community radio has a constituted board whose members come from a cross section of the community. It also has a listening club, the purpose of which is to facilitate communication in helping MCR to meet its mandate for broadcasting within the context of the community social and economic challenges. However, MCR is self funded and is forced to sell airtime to survive. This is a major drawback for community access. The operation of a formal radio station that allows for greater flexibility within a rural context often leads to exclusion of some rural voices. The phone-in programmes require that people have money to call and those who might well benefit and/or contribute valuable insight to such programming are excluded on this basis. Younger audiences tend to make use of the phone-in facility – usually for entertainment and social programmes rather than those with a purely development focus. It could be concluded that, the MCR is an important vehicle for communication in Jozini, however its potential for promoting communication among those who need it most is affected by the same structural factors limiting access to other channels.