The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) says it has taken into account all the principles that govern the allocation of slots for Party Election Broadcasts (PEB) to ensure fair and equitable treatment in all the broadcasting services.
Currently, broadcasters are expected to flight Party Election Broadcasts and Political Advertisements for all parties contesting the May 8 elections.
Icasa has allocated political parties free slots to flight PEBs on different broadcast platforms.
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is compelled by law to flight these PEBs free of charge.
Icasa Spokesperson, Paseka Maleka says the allocation of slots is within the law.
“There is three principles that we use when we allocate Party Election Broadcasts. One of them is the basic allocation. This is the allocation for all political parties that are registered and contesting elections; and the second principle that we use is whether the party has certain seats or the number of seats that a party holds in the National Assembly; and the last principle is related to the number of candidates that a political party is fielding – that is both provincially and nationally.
“We have taken into account all those three principles to allocate the PEBs and we believe that we have done enough … to ensure that we give all the political parties that are contesting elections fair and equitable treatment in all the broadcasting services that we have,” Maleka added.
