NEDLAC LINK-UP WITH SABC EDUCATIONAL RADIO

In 1998 there was a Management Committee decision that an effort should be made to encourage the public broadcaster to give more air-time to issues of a socio-economic nature. In view of this, discussions were held with SABC-TV andradio. As a result, SABC educational radio agreed to run a weekly series called"Commerce and Finance" on all 10 vernacular radio stations in 1999.

The aim of the programme is to heighten awareness and understanding of economic issues, in the languages that people speak at home. The format is a phone-in show, with one or two studio guests. The significance and greatest benefit of this formula is that it is all conducted in the vernacular, rather than many newsshows, which use clips of interviewees speaking English. The host conducts a short interview to set the background, and then the guests take questions from callers.

Nedlac's role in this joint venture is to advise theoverall producer of topics that the programmes could tackle, and to put them in touch withthe relevant parties. We have provided contact lists for the Nedlac constituencies, from which the regional producers can draw studio guests.

The series kicked off in late January, with a two part show on"What is Nedlac?" After many of the shows our switchboard was flooded with follow-up queries.

In February, the Department of Finance provided people for aBudget week programme on "What is the Budget?". The South African RevenueServices are in discussions for a series on "What is tax?", which will incissues which have been high on Nedlac's agenda, such as customs and VAT fraud. Topicsrelated to the Trade and Industry Chamber, such as "What is trade" and"What are tariffs" are due to be covered in April. The Department of Labour hasagreed on a number of issues for coverage, such as the Basic Conditions of Employment Act,Occupational Health and Safety and Compensation, and Unemployment Insurance. Once a monththe National Productivity Institute will provide interviewees to talk about issues such asproductivity of material, of machines, of resources and ways to improve productivity.

The emphasis is on content, and on real understanding, rather than on controversy, which is what is usually covered in the news and current affairs typeprogrammes.

We  would encourage Dialogue readers to tune into these programme to help make them a success. This is a wonderful opportunity to get involved inreal grassroots communication, and will be of enormous benefit in terms of creating broader socio-economic understanding as well as disseminating practical information that people can use.