In Soweto, the silent economic hub of southern Johannesburg, the fruits of black economic empowerment (BEE) can be seen in the lives of ordinary people, who have become more style conscious and fashion crazy, exposing the buying power of the township as thousands of working class people get set to spend their Christmas bonuses over the next three four weeks."Soweto Community Television is a platform into one of Africa's biggest markets, and anybody hoping to reach the upmarket urban consumers needs to look no further," said Enver Buys, CEO of Chaza Strategic Management.
The vast majority of residents work at banks, clothing retailers, cell phone service providers, advertising agencies, radio stations, call centres, and other businesses, but there are also chief executive officers, managing directors, lawyers, doctors, web designers, IT consultants, and directors of listed companies.
The average management income ranges from R45 000 per month to R5000 per month. Where do they spend their money?
The station is a free-to-air UHF service broadcasting from 15:00 till 23:00 daily, which launched on 26 November 2005 with a 30-day open window in the most populous black urban residential area in South Africa: Census 2001 put the number at 896 995.
Tshepo Thafeng, born in Dube, is at the helm of Soweto Community Television. "For the last 10 years I've been placing this dream on hold out of fear, disbelief and timing. My three years at 702 in marketing and sales, plus my one year in advertising at Namibian broadcasting gave me insight into broadcasting at management level. The role of community television is to showcase new talent - look what community radio has produced over the last few years," said Thafeng.
Soweto Community Television a not-for-profit (Section 21) company. The SABC's Airtime Broadcasting financed the entire studio and installation, but other resources are in short supply - outdoor recording equipment is lacking, making field trips impossible, and a shortfall of R250 000 for license fees to ICASA (Independent Communication Authority of South Africa), among other items, withholds the station from going live. The 30-day window will serve as a trial run.
The central theme of the month-long broadcasting period is 'World Aids Day'
Canadian born Program & Fundraising Manager, Meril Rasmussen, commented, "This project aims to be a meeting place, a contemporary market place, where people have a chance to find the things they need and where businesses can also come and offer what they have. Soweto already experiences the ills of contemporary diseases such as HIV/AIDS; Soweto also needs the technological infrastructure to respond."
The broadcast widow will be used to create links and build strong business ties with and between community organizations, creating a healthy community network where ideas can be exchanged and new business possibilities developed. Soweto Community Television aims to spread a positive message of upliftment, encourage positive perceptions about the township, unearth business opportunities and attract local visitors to Soweto's historic places.
Soweto Community Television is a "high-impact media vehicle with a low advertising package price - so low that experts in the media industry say it is silly, and the silly season hasn't even started" - 30 second ad slots during prime time for a mere R50 000; 30 ads (one daily during prime time) at 20 for only R70 000; programme sponsorship opening and closing billboards at R15 000 on a half-hour show, with brand association for major sponsors.
