FIGHTING TO SAVE LOTUS FM
ANNOYED Lotus FM listeners, and many who have already ditched the beleaguered station, are putting up a fight for the preservation of Indian culture.
Mass protest action, including demonstrations outside the offices of the SABC, were considered during a public meeting organised by the South African Hindu Maha Sabha at Kendra Hall in Durban on Monday night.
The focus of their ire is the SABC’s controversial policy of 90% local content across its radio stations, including Lotus FM. That decision, listeners said, had placed the future of the station in jeopardy, as many had switched to other channels and many advertisers had reportedly pulled out.
Following the meeting, a four-member interim steering committee was set up to approach SABC management to reconsider the radical 90-10 music quota, a pet project of former chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng.
The committee, which comprises Sabha president and former SABC board member Ashwin Trikamjee, chairman of the South African Muslim Network (Samnet); Faisal Suleman, president of the International Movement for Tamil Culture (IMTC); Mickey Chetty and Logan Chetty of the Christian Revival Centre, asked the public to submit proposals to them on the way forward. The deadline is this Friday. Trikamjee said the steering committee would mull over the proposals this weekend. It would then collate the information before a second public meeting is convened in Gauteng, where he said listeners had also voiced their concern to the Sabha.
The aim, said Trikamjee, was to get the view of the entire community.
The concerned grouping would then call for mass action, in which Lotus FM listeners would be requested to turn up in their numbersat the SABC offices in Durban and Johannesburg, where a memorandum would be handed to management.
Said Trikamjee: “We are not against the principle of promoting local content... but our people are now being forced to listen to the kind of music which, not that we reject it, but that is not what we are tuning into Lotus FM for. We tune into Lotus FM because we want to listen to a special kind of music.”
KwaZulu- Natal Human Settlements and Public Works MEC Ravi Pillay was also concerned by the policy.
In an e-mail read out by Trikamjee, Pillay, who wrote in his personal capacity, said: “No patriotic South African can find fault with the intention of the rule.
However, it clearly ignores the specific realities of the beneficiary audience and the content available to meet the language and demographic needs of the station audience.
“I believe that (applying it) in a phased manner, with specific timelines, would be the most rational approach in the circumstances. I believe a strong mandate would enable you to engage relevant stakeholders to achieve effective attention to the very legitimate concerns.”
Suleman said that if Lotus FM continued with the trajectory it was on, it would not be economically feasible for the SABC to keep the station running.
“The unilateral decision that seems to now be common at the SABC is not going to work when the rest of South Africans are saying, we want to have consultation in things that affect our affairs.”
Mickey Chetty said that while he supported Motsoeneng’s decision to promote local content, which would result in many artists “getting an opportunity to earn out of music and song”, he did not want to see the future of the station eroded.
Logan Chetty said: “It doesn’t matter what our religious beliefs are, our culture is important and it must be promoted.”