The group plays an active role in the communities it serves. We focus mainly on literacy and educational programmes.

Education is recognised by African governments as one of the most pressing issues facing the continent, and is the focus of MultiChoice’s corporate social investment programme. In sub-Saharan Africa 91 MultiChoice Resource Centres have been launched. The initiative is aligned to the Nepad e-Africa Commission’s e-schools programme. The integration of information and communication skills in education is a focus of Nepad. DStv’s Education bouquet assists in enabling access to information in schools. Nepad e-schools have been launched in Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Rwanda and Uganda. In addition, MultiChoice Resource Centres are operational in Angola, Burundi, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Zambia, Namibia and Zimbabwe.

In countries where we carry national broadcasters on our platform, these channels are also included on the DStv Education bouquet. Training teachers to use the resource effectively is one of the elements of the initiative.

MultiChoice, as a founder member of Mindset, is committed to this partnership, which provides modern technology and training to educators in rural and disadvantaged communities, benefiting many thousands of educators and learners with ICT training and materials. It is augmented by the Mindset Learn channel on the DStv platform.

The MultiChoice VUKA! programme was created to broaden the scope of public service announcements in order to address a wider range of social and economic issues. The programme promotes innovation, emerging talent and excellence in film-making. It is a call for film-makers to wake up (VUKA!) and do something that is creative and meaningful, while alerting audiences to the challenges of life in our contemporary southern Africa.

The project, which began in 1998 with just 15 public service announcements, has already grown to more than 200 announcements in 2005. The MultiChoice VUKA! Film Skills Development Programme is operated in partnership with the Department of Labour and the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF). It is an initiative of the VUKA! Awards programme aimed at building skills in the South African television and film industry.

MultiChoice also supports the development of media in Africa through a partnership with CNN, with the CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Awards.

M-Net promoted a number of community events in the year under review, including:

• the M-Net Book Prize, in collaboration with Via Afrika. This aims to encourage writing in indigenous languages. Categories were expanded to include short-format writing and poetry.
• Cansa Shavathon, which was supported for the second year after the record-breaking efforts of the previous year. Thousands of heads were coloured or shaved in support of cancer research and more than R8 million raised.
• KTV Market Day, which continues to grow. This year's event (the tenth) attracted a record number of participants. The event aims to encourage young entrepreneurs.
• New Directions, which is aimed at promoting young film directors and provides funding for film initiatives. The project spans the entire continent and has boosted the careers of several young directors.

Various projects are supported by SuperSport. These include the Let’s Play initiative in which SuperSport, in conjunction with the Department of Sport, prods children to participate in sport and to acquire a healthier lifestyle.

As a founding member of the Sports Trust, SuperSport contributes all advertising revenue from Wednesday night programming to a fund that distributes sports equipment to disadvantaged communities. Support for disabled sport, such as wheelchair basketball, is also a SuperSport initiative. Other causes include the Chris Burger/Pedro Jackson fund for injured rugby players and the SuperSport youth soccer academy.

Media24’s projects focus on its fields of operation, namely education of children. Media24 sponsors a number of “laptech” assistance tools and gives extensive support to literacy projects, in particular for disadvantaged communities. The Department of Education project to encourage learners to become teachers is aided by sponsoring a teacher recruitment drive and prestigious Teacher of the Year and School of the Year awards. Media24 supported various arts festivals and the Stigting vir Bemagtiging deur Afrikaans. An extensive student bursary scheme funding mostly candidates from previously disadvantaged communities is in place, while Paarl Media established an additional scholarship fund of R10 million in its immediate environment, focusing on children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The Daily Sun franchise system for newspapers and pamphlet distribution created many entrepreneurs who now operate independently.

Media24 assists with computer rooms at two schools for previously disadvantaged individuals. All Media24’s major newspapers have fundraising actions targeting disadvantaged beneficiaries, including underprivileged children, non-governmental organisations and community-based organisations.

Some of the community project benefi ciaries include the Revell Children’s Home, caring for children from birth to five years, the St Francis Children’s Home, caring for boys from three to 17 years, and the St George’s Home for Girls, caring for girls from three to 19 years.

Media24’s various titles aim to be useful to their respective communities. Editorial infrastructure has been applied to support numerous campaigns, including the Son’s campaign against drug abuse, and the Touchline Media project Care for the Carers.