Media activists in the early 1990s envisaged a Media Development Agency set up by the state to fund community media projects. This proposal met with strong resistance from the commercial media industry who proposed a non-statutory voluntary body. The final compromise – brokered by Essop Pahad in the Mbeki Presidency - was a statutory Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA) that saw representation form the government and commercial media industry on its’ Board, only had a mandate to provide start-up and project funding (not running costs), and enjoyed a budget less that 33% of the conservative projections that were developed during the negotiation process. 

Here is the Act of Parliament that governs the MDDA: The Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA) Act of 1992 (PDF)