Staff reporter
Bloemfontein – More than a year after Free State Premier Joyce “Pretenders” Mathae promised to spread government advertising and empower local media, little appears to have changed.
Speaking in March 2025, Mathae committed her administration to ensuring that a percentage of government advertising spend would be directed to local media houses, with opportunities rotated fairly among media outlets.
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However, none of those commitments have materialised.
Mathae said she does not want to be a leader who lies.
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Last week, the Free State Provincial Government (FSPG) hosted an event in QwaQwa without making use of local media such as Qwaqwa Radio and The Guard.
Today, another government event is taking place in Botshabelo, yet Mosupatsela FM is again not part of the programme. The least we talk about cleaning campaign in June 16 the better.
Ironically, the provincial government last week hosted a media engagement focusing on government communication and public information dissemination. The event was streamed live, but the production quality raised concerns, with the broadcast reportedly carried via a cellphone rather than a professional streaming service.
For many in the sector, this reflects government’s attitude towards local media readily calling journalists to cover events and press conferences, but rarely spending money to support the industry.
When Mathae makes a promise, take it with pinch of salt because chances are, it will not see the light.
The issue was raised directly with Deputy Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Kenny Morolong, during a recent engagement with media stakeholders.
Max Maema, Chairperson of the National Community Radio Forum (NCRF) in the Free State, fired the first salvo.
“We only have seven community radio stations in the Free State and we are struggling. We have about 200 media houses, but only a few are represented here.”
He was followed by Refiloe Mochaori of Journal News.
“We are simply asking for support. It is unfortunate that the Premier is not here. There are events taking place across the province and we are expected to attend, but we do so using our own resources and budgets.”
Responding to the concerns, Morolong acknowledged that communication should not be treated as an afterthought and admitted that the current allocation of government advertising to the media sector remains inadequate.
“We have undertaken to return to the province and close the gaps,” he said.
With local government elections only months away, the sudden engagement with the media has drawn comparisons to the controversial Media Summit, which critics argued was designed to advance ANC election campaigning under the guise of media development.
Read the invite below and see how FSPG unashamedly make it clear they want local media for LGE they even put it on paper.
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Interesting take on media strategy for local governance. I wonder how the public will react to this approach?