Letter - I can recall that there was tremendous excitement a few years ago among the South Indian community that a new Tamil radio station would be launched called Southside FM Radio.
Despite the dialogue between Icasa and those tasked to represent Southside, nothing solid materialised.
We are also painfully aware of the challenges that the Southside management team face.
A real sad state of affairs is that the South Indian community has no unified voice that can not only represent the needs of the community but also disseminate important information and strengthen the mother tongue of the community.
Whilst there is Hindvani for he Hindi community, Al-Ansaaar for the Muslim community and Highway for the Christians, the Tamil community sadly does not get a frequency space even though we make up 700 000 of the 1.1 million Indian people.
It is perhaps time that our South Indian leaders, not only in religion and language but business, take this matter to the highest level possible, so that this urgent need in the community is addressed.
It is time that greater effort is put into the struggle, so we too can be proud to have our own radio station.
It is a great tragedy that people of South Indian origin are the only ones without a radio station.
I would like to implore our Tamil community leaders to please put a concerted effort into this initiative before our identity as Tamilians is lost.
My advice to the board of the Southside committee, don’t give up the battle and I love the saying of Nelson Mandela: “A winner is a dreamer who never gives up.”