Hon Deputy Chairperson and hon member, you are correct to say that when we established the community radio stations or the community media we had a conscious decision that our people need not be deprived of information. Therefore it is better if we get it from them at the grass roots level and be able to interact with government and everybody else. The decision to license those that were not licensed was taken consciously to say as we license because we are a responsible government that have laws in place and these laws unfortunately have to be adhered by all. For by the time we give you the licence
we explain to you what are the terms and conditions of the licence. We therefore expect all to comply.
Hon member, indeed you are raising a very crucial question to say now with the case of Zibonele Community Radio Station that sent some documentation and Icasa did not respond and they asked them to resubmit, we do have capacity challenges here and there and that is something as we have said in our Budget Vote that this year we are focussing on making sure that we refocus Icasa to be the best regulator that it can be and that includes capacitating it. For as much as we talk of the personnel that we have, but the issue that we never looked at is the capability of the personnel to deliver on the services. That is why we again introduced the skills audit across all entities that are under the portfolio so that we can introduce reskilling and training that is compulsory in order to address and breach those gaps.
I will therefore hon member, take it into consideration that we make a follow-up in order for Zibonele Community Radio Station to get an update in relation to the matter raised. Thank you.