21 Mar 2018

Director of Broadcasting Services, Keiterele Mathape has been elected the president of pan-African broadcasting assembly, the African Union of Broadcasting.

Delegates from African national broadcasting agencies at the 11th annual general assembly held from March 12 to 16 in Kigali, Rwanda elected Mathape, the first woman to hold the post, for a two-year term.

Speaking in an interview having returned from Rwanda, Mathape expressed delight at her election, saying it presents an opportunity for her and the country to drive pertinent issues that affect broadcast journalism on the continent.

“I am very honoured to have been elected on behalf of Botswana. AUB has five regions, the Southern, Central, East, West and Arabic-North. Each of these regions is represented in the leadership and the three vice presidents come from different regions as well,” Mathape said.

She said her term would be focused on the implementation of the resolutions from the AGM, which include seeking to make sports broadcasting rights more affordable and better news content sharing between African national broadcasters.

“Currently most African national broadcasters are struggling to afford broadcasting rights for major sports tournaments.

Rwanda recently featured at the African Nations Championships (CHAN), but the ordinary people of that country could not see their team in action because the national broadcaster could not afford the rights.

Over a period of time, sports rights have become expensive and we have decided to speak with one voice to engage relevant stakeholders,” Mathape said.

She added that there had been a concern that African news networks were lagging behind foreign news agencies in delivering African news across the continent and beyond.

“The President of Rwanda, Mr Paul Kagame, who was present at the AGM, said that we should not allow outsiders to lead the way in telling the African story,

This indeed has been a concern for African broadcasters; we would like to have our own news channel in the long term and in the interim have better sharing of news content between African broadcasters,” Mathape said.

She further said that she would like to use her time at the fort to leave a laying legacy and promote the training of journalists.

Assistant Minister for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration, Thato Kwerepe, who had accompanied Mathape and colleague, Joel Thuto to Rwanda, said the government supports these broadcasting initiatives.

“The AUB made a few resolutions that will need the backing of national governments and we will offer our support.

AUB seeks to have a seat at the African Union because their issues require political drive, and President Kagame, who currently chairs the AU, promised to take the matter up,” Kwerepe said. Ends