Icasa starts allocating mahala advertising slots to political parties

The Independent Communications of Authority of South Africa (Icasa) on Wednesday started allocating free radio and TV advertising slots to political parties.

This in an attempt to give all parties contesting next month’s municipal elections a chance to speak to the population‚ it said.

Parties must produce an ad to be played in these free slots on SABC radio stations and TV channels.

Though the airtime is free‚ parties must bankroll the ads themselves – meeting the technical production standards of the broadcasters they are assigned.

Rubben Mohlaloga‚ acting chair of the Icasa committee keeping an eye on all broadcasting related to the upcoming elections‚ said that the free election broadcasts will be aired from Tuesday‚ July 12.

This gives the parties scheduled to begin broadcasting on Tuesday about 120 hours to produce an ad.

The announcement of the slot allocations‚ initially scheduled for Tuesday‚ was postponed to Wednesday due to an ongoing strike by Icasa staff members‚ Mohlalgoa said.

All parties will be allocated a basic two-hour slot on a national radio station in a draw.

During this slot an ad‚ not longer than one minute‚ created by the party will play at least once‚ Icasa spokesperson Paseka Maleka said.

Time on regional radio stations and on TV channels are allocated proportionately based on the number of seats held by a party at local and district government levels.

Some political parties sent officials to participate in the draw‚ but most of the country’s big parties were a no-show.

The African National Congress‚ the Democratic Alliance and the Inkatha Freedom Party were among the unrepresented parties at the allocation draw.

Icasa published regulations for the parties’ elections broadcasts in February.

The allocation process continues.