South Africa’s Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA) has approved R36.9m ($2m) in grant funding for 32 community media projects, marking a significant injection into grassroots broadcasting and publishing, but one that also exposes a deeper challenge, which is the urgent need for African-led media entrepreneurship to drive long-term sustainability.
The approvals, announced in Johannesburg on April 1, form part of the MDDA’s 2025/26 funding cycle and cover 22 community radio projects alongside 10 print and digital media initiatives drawn from all nine provinces. The funding follows a competitive application process that saw 197 proposals submitted, underscoring both the scale of demand and the vibrancy of the sector.
While the grants reinforce the agency’s mandate to redress historic inequalities in media access, the broader implications extend far beyond public funding. In Africa, community media remains one of the most powerful tools for economic participation, cultural preservation and democratic engagement. The real story lies in the transition from subsidy to sustainability.
Chairperson Hlengani Mathebula framed the approvals as part of a wider effort to strengthen inclusion across the media landscape.
“The disbursement of funds to the approved initiatives underscores the MDDA’s mandate to support a range of community media projects as part of its broader role in strengthening the sector,” he said, adding that the initiatives prioritise indigenous languages and representation of disadvantaged groups, including women, people with disabilities and rural communities.
MDDA Chief Executive Shoeshoe Ntsoaki Qhu struck a notably commercial tone in her remarks, signalling a shift in how the sector must evolve.
“This is an important step, but it is not the finish line,” Ntsoaki said. “Sustaining and growing this sector requires more than governance, it requires partnership.”
“Community media remains one of the most powerful platforms for inclusion, local voice, indigenous languages and democratic participation. Yet, its sustainability cannot rest on public funding and the commercial broadcasters alone,” she added.
Her message reflects a growing consensus across Africa that public funding alone cannot build resilient industries. Instead, the future of community media will depend on the emergence of entrepreneurial models that blend grant support with private investment, digital innovation and scalable business strategies.
Across the continent, media ecosystems are undergoing rapid transformation. Digital platforms are lowering barriers to entry, mobile penetration continues to rise now exceeding 80 per cent in many African markets and demand for hyper-local, culturally relevant content is expanding. Yet, despite these tailwinds, many community media organisations remain structurally fragile, heavily reliant on intermittent funding cycles.
The MDDA’s intervention, while critical, highlights this tension.
The agency has already outlined a pathway to strengthen capacity, including an April 2026 orientation workshop covering financial management, governance and compliance. But capacity-building alone may not be enough to unlock growth.
What is increasingly required is a new generation of African media entrepreneurs who can convert community platforms into viable enterprises, attract private capital and monetise content through digital channels, partnerships and innovative revenue models.
Ntsoaki’s call for collaboration reflects this reality. She urged engagement with private-sector investors, development agencies, technology partners and academia, effectively positioning community media as an emerging investment frontier rather than a purely social intervention.
For South Africa and Africa more broadly, the stakes are significant.
Community media reaches millions of underserved citizens, shapes local economies and influences public discourse. If successfully commercialised and scaled, it could become a cornerstone of the continent’s broader creative and digital economy, which is projected to contribute over $200 billion annually to African GDP by 2030.
But unlocking that potential will require a shift in mindset, from funding to financing, from projects to enterprises and from access to growth.
The MDDA’s R36.9m allocation is a meaningful start. The real transformation, however, will come from the ability of African entrepreneurs to build sustainable, scalable media businesses that turn community voices into economic engines.
