In the first 12 years of operation, 702 played a very important role in bringing news and information to the people of the provinces of the Transvaal and the Free State. Because the transmitters were located in the nominally Independent homeland of Bophuthatswana, the South African government could not gag or influence the editorial and news content. To have done so, would have made a mockery of the "independence" of the homeland. This freedom of information and speech provided a platform for opponents of the apartheid administration and the station is recognised as having contributed to the peaceful transition of South Africa to the democratic society which now exists.