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Braille Trumpet January 2008 Editor: Wellington Pike Assistant Editors: Johannes Dube, Patricia Mceka Compiled, printed and distributed free of charge by Braille Services of Blind SA Private Bag X9005 Crown Mines 2025 South Africa Tel: +27 (0) 11 839-1793 Fax: +27 (0) 11 839-1217 E-mail: philip@blindsa.org.za Visit our website: www: http://www.blindsa.org.za Contents Editorial Living like a king … You can't always believe what you read … Children tortured as witches in Angola If you're a racist, you'll end up paying for it Patients left in lurch as carers go without pay History meets luxury in Kliptown Students to benefit from their passage to India Reggae's battle for survival in SA Motshekga praised for a job well done as education MEC Gambia taken to court over torture of editor Editorial 2008 has begun, we hope that all of you, dear readers have commenced with your resolutions. The past year was a very good one, although we received no letters from the readers. We trust that on this year when all our minds are refreshed we will bring fresh ideas into our magazine. You can't always believe what you read, is one of our articles about researching issues that are written, before believing them to be true. I hope you'll enjoy all the other articles that we have included in this January issue of the Braille Trumpet. The Editor Wellington Living like a king … BONGANI MTHETHWA Sunday Times, November 25 2007 But KwaZulu-Natal government is starting to count the cost The Zulu monarchy's opulence has come under the beady eye of KwaZulu-Natal's bean counters. The provincial Cabinet has ordered the KwaZulu-Natal Treasury to get the royal household's finances in order, after it emerged that King Goodwill Zwelithini's household will set taxpayers back an extra r4-million this year. A mid-term expenditure review of the Royal Household Department, which oversees the king's R36-million budget, indicated that the over-expenditure has been incurred as a result of an unauthorised office relocation, travel bills and more than R1-million for vehicles. When this was revealed to the provincial Cabinet last Friday, it insisted that Treasury intervene. Expenditure included: * R1-million for the unauthorised move of the department's offices from Ulundi to Nongoma; * R2-million in subsistence and travel costs for the monarch, his entourage and the queens; and * R1.6-million overspent on the purchase of motor vehicles. The king's farms also had a projected over-expenditure of R465 000, which was attributed to fertiliser from the previous year being paid for this year. Last year the royal household overspent by more than R3.5-million. But its overall budget did cover the cost of, among other things, six E-Class 200 Compressor Mercedes-Benz vehicles, maintenance to the tune of R1.3-million on the king's five palaces and R2.6-million on hotel accommodation for the king and his entourage between April and October. Although the current analysis of the department's expenditure trends is yet to be completed, it has already identified significant expenditure on entertainment. Special events, such as the lobola and umemulo (coming of age) ceremonies for the king's daughters, involve the hiring of marquees, chairs, sound systems and catering sometimes for up to 1000 guests at a time. Cultural events such as the annual Reed Dance – during which the king may choose another bride – are also eating away at the department's budget. This year, the provincial Department of Arts and Culture paid more than R2-million for the Reed Dance Festival – in addition to the royal budget. The department is also responsible for the upkeep and day-to-day running of the king's five palaces, including the queens' needs. In addition to the monthly allowance allocated to the king's six wives, it has also emerged that the department foots the bill for their clothing – and for the clothing of extended members of the royal family. The department's acting head, Dr Vusi Shongwe, this week declined to respond to the Sunday Times' questions about the over-expenditure. ANC MPL Belinda Scott, chairman of the finance portfolio committee, said the department's over-expenditure would be discussed at Cabinet on Wednesday. "We want to know when Treasury can finalise their analysis. The resolutions are to ensure that immediate steps are taken to curb the overspending." She said the department's continued over-expenditure would need close monitoring. "We've instructed them to give us a report by the end of January to give us an assurance that there's no over-spending for the 2007/2008 financial year." The king's financial affairs have created a serious headache for the provincial government and Premier Sibusiso Ndebele has previously expressed concern about the matter. Two years ago, the province came up with the idea of establishing a royal trust to replace the royal department, although nothing has come of this plan as yet. The aim of the trust would be to build an asset base for the royal household, making it self-sustainable. Another plan to make the royal family self-sustainable includes using the king as a tourist attraction, like the British queen. Ndebele said on Friday that he had requested a task team to be set up by the Treasury about six months ago to investigate this cost-cutting option. He said: "As a result of the work done by the task team, the over-expenditure was exposed." He added that the Royal Trust Act, which governs the monarch, requires consultation with the king on fiscal matters. You can't always believe what you read ... JAMES CLARKE
Judy e-mailed Hillary Clinton for comments. Hillary's spin doctors got to work and returned the following biographical sketch: "Remus Rodham was a famous cowboy in Montana Territory. His business empire grew to include acquisition of valuable equestrian assets and intimate dealings with the Montana railroad.
But long-dead great-uncle George posed a problem. He was executed in the electric chair for murder. The family history reads: George "occupied a chair of applied electronics at an important government institution, was attached to his position by the strongest of ties and his death came as a great shock." DIVERSE DRIVERS A couple of years ago I carried an item about how to identify where drivers are from by the way they drive on Joburg's roads. Anthea Smith has passed on a new version: * Both hands tightly on the wheel and a foot hovering over the brake pedal: foreign tourist. * One hand on the wheel and the other constantly tapping the horn: Soweto. * One hand on the wheel, two fingers out of the window: Pretoria. * One hand on the wheel, one hand on a newspaper, foot solidly on the accelerator: Sandton. * One hand on the wheel, one cradling a cellphone and a brick on the accelerator: Polokwane. * One hand on the wheel, one hand on a beer, brick on accelerator, gun in lap: Ventersdorp. * Both hands on the wheel, blue rinsed hair, eyes barely above the dashboard, Maltese terrier head out of window: Rosebank. * Both hands in air, gesturing; both feet on accelerator, constant lane jumping, head turned to talk to passengers in the back, chip packet flying out of window: Diepsloot minibus driver. * One knee on the wheel, a cellphone cradled between shoulder and ear, foot on the brake, mind on 702: suburban Yofex (Young female executive). * One hand on the wheel, one hand hanging out the window, keeping steady 130km/h driving down the centre of the road: Free State. Children tortured as witches in Angola The Times, Monday 26 November 2007 Domingos Pedro was only 12 when his father died. The passing was sudden; the cause was a mystery to doctors in Uige, Angola. But not to Domingos's relatives. They gathered that afternoon in Domingos's mud-clay house, he said, seized him and bound his legs with rope. They tossed the rope over the house's rafters and hoisted him up until he was suspended headdown over the hard dirt floor. Then they told him they would cut the rope if he did not confess to murdering his father. "They were yelling, `Witch! Witch!" Domingos recalled, tears rolling down his face. "There were so many people all shouting at me at the same time." Terrified, Domingos told them what they wanted to hear but his relatives were not appeased. Ferraz Bulio, the neighbourhood's traditional leader, said seven or eight villagers were dragging Domingos down a dirt path to the river, apparently to drown him, when he intervened. "They were slapping him and punching him," he said. "This is the way people react towards someone accused of witchcraft. There are lots of such cases." Bulio is right. In parts of Angola, Congo and the DRC, a surprising number of children are accused of being witches and beaten, abused or abandoned. Child advocates estimate that thousands of children living in the streets of Kinshasa, Congo's capital, have been accused of witchcraft and cast out by their families, often as a rationale for not having to feed or care for them. The officials in one northern Angolan town identified 432 street children who had been abandoned or abused after being called witches. The notion of child witches is not new here. It is a common belief in Angola's dominant Bantu culture. Adult witches are said to bewitch children by giving them food, then forcing them to reciprocate by sacrificing a family member. But officials attribute the surge in persecutions of children to war – 27 years in Angola, ending in 2002, and near constant strife in Congo. The conflicts orphaned many children; other families were left intact but destitute and unable to feed themselves. "The `witch` situation started when fathers became unable to care for their children," said Ana Silva, who is in charge of child protection for the children's institute. "So they started seeking any justification to expel them from the family." Since then, she said, the phenomenon has followed poor migrants from the northern Angolan provinces of Uige and Zaire to the slums of Luanda. Two recent cases horrified officials. In June, Silva said, a Luanda mother blinded her 14-year-old daughter with bleach to try to rid her of evil visions. In August, a father injected battery acid into his 12-year-old son's stomach because he feared the boy was a witch, she said. Angola's government has campaigned since 2000 to dispel notions about child witches, Silva said, but progress comes slowly. "We cannot change the belief that witches exist," she said. "Even the professional workers believe that witches exist." Instead, her institute is trying to teach authority figures – the police, teachers, religious leaders – that violence against children is never justified. The Angolan city of Mbanza Congo has blazed a trail. After a child accused of witchcraft was stabbed to death in 2000, provincial officials and Save the Children, the global charity, rounded up 432 street children and reunited 380 of them with their relatives. Villages formed committees to monitor children's rights. The authorities say the number of children who are abused or living on the streets dropped drastically. Uige is another story. In this region, said Bishop Emilio Sumbelelo, of St Joseph's Catholic Church, persecution of children is rising. "We know that some children have been killed." His church runs the town's only sanctuary for children victimised as witches, a shelter barely bigger than a three-car garage. Thirty-two boys, including Domingos, occupy bunks stacked a foot apart. There is no shelter for girls. Afonso Garcia, 6, took the shelter's last empty cot in July. "I came here on my own because my father doesn't like me and I was not eating every day." If you're a racist, you'll end paying for it City Press, 2 December 2007 In 2000, a law was introduced to curb all forms of discrimination in our country and South Africans are steadily beginning to use it, writes MARIECHEN WALDNER A Limpopo equality court recently ordered a Nashua employee, Andrew van der Westhuizen, to pay a colleague. Elliot Senwamadi, R10 000 after he e-mailed a "recipe" for creating black people to staff members. The recipe's ingredients were a wheelbarrow each of water, mud and faeces. In April, a Cape Town equality court ordered a white woman, Shannon Ferreira, her daughter Nameer, and her boyfriend, Byron Shaw to apologise and cough up R10 0000 for assaulting 16-year-old Nosipho Mkhize, a black learner of the formerly exclusively white Edgemead High School. The three also defecated on Mkhize, calling her a "kaffir". Their racist conduct not only cost them money, but also their time. They were ordered to attend the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) diversity and racial sensitisation programme. Last month, a Durban equality court ordered a local landlord with a "whites only" letting policy to pay a white woman, a Mrs Gerber, R10 000 for refusing to let her a flat. In July, the landlord agreed to let the flat in the Dunmarsh building in Amanzimtoti to her. But after discovering that she had an Indian husband, he changed his mind, telling her the occupants of the other flats objected to living next to an Indian. The equality court declared his lease agreement to be discriminatory. It said that the premises being let to "members of the white group only" was unconstitutional and invalid. The landlord had to notify his white tenants that the rule was no longer enforceable. These are just some of the many cases that came before the equality court this year. The Equality Act of 2000 set up a national system of equality courts tasked to deal speedily with complaints of those at the receiving end of racism, sexual harassment and other types of human rights violations. The courts started functioning in the middle of 2004 and its many judgments show that South Africans will now pay dearly for discriminatory conduct. Thanks to the court, being a racist, sexist or violator of human dignity is fast becoming an expensive exercise. Equality court judgments tell us that black South Africans are no longer required to accept racist jokes, slurs and discriminatory practices. They also tell us that Muslims can justifiably be offended by the conduct of some Christians and that whites, particularly those with black family members, will not put up with racial discrimination when they visit holiday resorts or try to rent accommodation. Blacks are, for example, not to be fun of on company email or made to feel unwelcome in former exclusively white establishments. Equality court restraining orders have also been used to put a brake on rude, unacceptable behaviour motivated by religious prejudice. Last year, a Cape Town equality court ordered a Brackenfell timber firm, Woodways, to pay Muslim customer Moosa Valli R2 000 in damages after demanding that he remove his fez before being served. The offending Woodways employee told Valli that wearing the traditional headgear in the shop was like a Christian wearing a pork chop around his neck in a Muslim area. Equality court magistrate Johan Oosthuizen, who was not amused, slapped the firm with an order restraining it from discriminating against Muslims in future. The Equality Act and equality courts were designed to eradicate systematic discrimination and inequalities brought about by colonialism, apartheid and patriarchy. They set the new rules for civilised society in South Africa. Although they provide cheap, fast and easy access to justice and equality, South Africans do not seem to value or use them. Data assembled by the Human Rights Commission indicate that the courts are "under-utilised," says SAHRC equality co-ordinator Lufuno Mmbadi. The commission's provincial offices have been tasked with monitoring two equality courts a month, using an equality court monitoring questionnaire. The questionnaire collects information pertaining to the functioning of the courts, says Mmbadi. This includes data on the number of cases heard, withdrawn, those successfully concluded, the type of complaints handled and the accessibility of the courts to the disabled. A report was sent to the justice department last year. It highlighted problems such as the under-utilisation of the courts and the fact that the legal proceedings involved are not conducted as speedily as required by the Equality Act. The fact that people do not know about the courts may account for the fact that they are under-utilised. The SAHRC has been gathering statistics since the establishment of the courts and say the process has been slow as it has not received all the statistics needed. Mmbadi says complaints handled so far were mainly against racial discrimination, racial slurs and hate speech. Sexism and violating people's rights or dignity listed in the Equality Act do not feature much in the cases heard so far. Patients left in lurch as carers go without pay City Press, 2 December 2007 Delays by the Department of Health in rolling out funds for non-governmental organisations working to help patients with HIV or Aids have resulted in a strike by home-based caregivers in the Vaal, writes KHUTHALA NANDIPHA Frail Rachel Sipato* (56), a bedridden patient from Bophelong in the Vaal says, with a hunger-tinged voice, "I miss the soya pap they used to bring. It is nice and it makes the medication easier to digest." * Not her real name. Since she was diagnosed with HIV a few years ago she has been relying on the help of local home-based caregivers for counselling and her healthcare. They visit her twice a week to give her a bath, supply her with disposable nappies, bandages, ointments and food and ensure that she takes her medication. Last year in August, Sipato's condition worsened when she suffered a stroke, paralysing her left arm and leg. Her caregivers now have to help her exercise to ease the paralysis. For the past three weeks, the caregivers have not been to see Sipato because they say the department of health has failed to pay them their monthly stipends of R1 000 for the past five months, forcing them to go on strike. The caregivers say they do not have any money for transport. Sipato shares a three-roomed RDP house with her daughter and five-year-old grand-daughter. Her 31-year-old daughter has been forced to stay at home and look after her mother. "People are scared of sick people who cannot walk or do things for themselves," she says. Sipato has also run out of disposable nappies and has been using a plastic roll as a bedsheet to try to protect the bed from accidents. Motlodi Zitha, a project manager of an NGO, says the department of health has been unreliable in remunerating the counsellors. "We formed a partnership with the department in 2005. The agreement was that they would give us quarterly funds to buy the supplies we need to care for the patients. In addition they would help us rent an office, pay telephone bills and cover travelling costs," she says. Caregivers initially worked as volunteers who got paid when NGOs got their funding from sponsors. "The department approached our caregivers without speaking to us last year. They promised them a monthly stipend of R1 000. They have been paying them until five months ago," she adds. "We also did not get funds for supplies in the second and third quarter of this year. We have nothing to give to patients except nappies." This disturbance in the daily running of NGOs has discouraged Zitha, who founded the NGO to help the community. She says when this mess is over, she is going to dissolve the NGO founded seven years ago. "I want to leave things on good terms. I have people that need to be paid first and they are not sure whether I have their money or not." More caregivers are throwing in the towel claiming that the R1 000 stipend is an incentive that they cannot live without. "How can I board a taxi with no fare to go and see a hungry patient when I am hungry too?" asks Manini Majoe, a caregiver for the Vaal Aids NGO. The Sedibeng HIV & Aids Network (Shanet) met recently to thrash out concerns about the delays in releasing approved funding to recipients. The network sent the department of health in Gauteng a memorandum stating that the partnership between government and HIV/Aids organisations in the district has not been fruitful. They requested the department to live up to its promises to make funds available on time. "The department's actions have resulted in fieldworkers refusing to continue rendering services without stipends. This has also created financial difficulties in coordinating our efforts on the ground," says Gail Heasley, general manager at Wide Horizon Hospice. In a letter sent to Erica Cilliers, the Public Protector for Gauteng, Jack Bloom, a member of the Gauteng Legislature, lamented that this situation was a result of inefficiency. "My information is that about 30 funded NGOs in the Sedibeng District have not yet received their second-quarter payments and late payments cause loss of valuable staff," he said. Heasley added that the reasons given to the media regarding the delay were not accurate. The department claimed that NGO managers had not submitted full reports detailing the running of their organisations. "We demand an immediate release of all the money due to us in terms of the service agreements entered into. A seasoned project officer should also be assigned to deal with our concerns," said Heasley. According to Zanele Mngadi, spokesperson for the department of health in Gauteng, NGOs that do not get paid have not yet provided financial statements and reports of work done for the department. "We have set up systems to help NGOs comply, and as a result we are confident that this problem will be alleviated," says Mngadi. Zitha, however, maintains that NGOs cannot delay in submitting reports because they depend on the funding. History meets luxury in Kliptown City Press, 2 December 2007 BABALWA SHOTA and NONZWAKAZI CEKETE went on a Johannesburg hotel exploration spree, to find out what the north, south and central part of the city had to offer Holiday Inn, Kliptown, Soweto Rays of light pierce through the window and leave me with no choice but to wake up. As I draw the curtains, a surprise comes my way. Instead of the gentle sea breeze I was expecting, my eyes focus on hawkers trading their merry-coloured fruits and vegetables, live chickens and everything in-between. It slowly dawns on me – I spent the night in the heart of Soweto's oldest township, Kliptown, and not Camps Bay. Already a hive of activity, visitors walk in and out of the hotel, which boasts 48 rooms and stands majestic in the historic Walter Sisulu Square. The art and decor is rich with Kliptown's past. "The hotel is an ultra-modern design style forming the centrepiece of the revival of Kliptown," says George Phefo, the general manager of the hotel. Black Moon Design Studio's Fanie Makhanya and Lauren Beckwith decorated the interior.
On the bed lies a tartan blanket, the kind our gogos used to carry us on their backs with. And instead of the standard pillow, these head-rests are made to resemble a bag of mealie meal. Also in the room stands a vintage radiogram used as storage space. Talk about impressive. The passage leading to the rooms is quite long, which is why Phefo says it has come to be known as the "Long Walk To Freedom". "This is testament to the political journey made by all South Africans in the evolution of a democracy and of course it is the title of Nelson Mandela's autobiography, the greatest statesman of all time," says Phefo. Everything in the hotel seems to have some political significance , which can become quite an overload at times. The hotel's two boardrooms sing praises to Helen Joseph and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. And the presidential suites, which have a spacious lounge and bedroom, are named after former ANC leaders Oliver Tambo and Chief Albert Luthuli. Even the cocktail bar is called Rusty, after Rusty Bernstein – a man who had a hand in drafting the Freedom Charter. Unfortunately the restaurant, called Jazz Maniacs, didn't offer the best breakfast. Hopefully when everyone has found their feet, the cooking will be mastered. Equally not pleasing was their parking space. It's a concern that the hotel is situated in bustling Kliptown yet there is no underground or covered parking. Instead, a security guard sits outside next to a brazier. He could easily be attacked. Besides that glitch, you can tell R23.4 million went into building the hotel and it was worth every cent. "It is estimated the township receives more than 200 000 visitors a year," says Phefo. Tourists come to Soweto to visit the famous Vilakazi Street, where Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu lived – the only street in the world to house two Nobel Peace Prize winners. "They also come to experience the Hector Pieterson Memorial and the square itself, which is a national heritage site," adds Phefo. Kliptown dates back to 1903 and is Soweto's oldest suburb. It came under the spotlight in 1955 when various anti-apartheid organisations converged on the square to sign the Freedom Charter.
But whether or not you agree, the Soweto Holiday Inn deserves at least one visit, it's definitely worth it. CONTACT DETAILS Soweto Holiday Inn Walter Sisulu Square Corner of Union and Main roads in Kliptown, Soweto. For more information or to make a reservation call 082-619-2120, 0800 999 136 or visit www.holidayinn.co.za
Their passage to India LUMKA OLIPHANT
Paballo Mogase is passionate about construction. Since she matriculated in 2005 all she wanted was to do "anything" that involved construction. So she enrolled for a civil engineering course at the Tshwane South College in Pretoria. Mogase (20) thought she would be encouraged to follow her passion at college. However, she says a few of her lecturers were less than supportive and every day became a fight to prove that she could be a civil engineer. "I have been told, by people I thought would encourage me, that I am too fragile to do civil engineering and that because I am a woman I can't do this," she says. Now Mogase and 104 other young people from all over South Africa will leave this week to spend a year in India. They're heading off to gain skills in various fields, including civil and electrical engineering. The programme, which has been running since 2000, is organised and funded by the Umsobomvu Youth Fund (UYF) with the Confederation of Indian Industry. The programme came into being when the UYF visited India to follow up on pledges made by a host of Indian companies to train and provide skills development opportunities for South African youth. Mogase, who is in her second year, will have to finish her studies a year later. But she is not fazed. "That is the least of my problems. This is the breakthrough I've been waiting for. I will be getting handson experience on top of the theory I have learnt in the past two years." Mogase got to know about the programme when her mother, who works as a residence manager at the Tshwane University of Technology, brought her a UYF advertisement with details of the programme. She applied to be part of the programme and was accepted. Mogase says she still cannot believe she will be flying for the first time and that she is going to a foreign country. "This is such a blessing for me. Considering that I come from a rural area where there is no proper infrastructure, this is something that's very close to my heart," she says. Mzwandile Ngcobo (35) from Umlazi in Durban is equally overjoyed. He says he has tried to get himself enrolled on the programme since 2002. He had to drop out of his studies at the Mangosuthu Technikon, where he was studying for a marketing diploma, because his mother could not afford to pay his fees. Although he had to divert from his passion, which is marketing, he wants to gain "every skill that will make me a better person". His dream is to help salvage his family from poverty. "The situation at home is not good. We survive on my mother's disability grant but I am determined to change that situation. This is why I kept applying for the programme although I was rejected so many times. I still can't believe I am finally going to be doing this," he says. Reggae's battle for survival in SA City Press, 2 December 2007 Did the passing of reggae legend Lucky Dube sound the death knell for South African reggae, asks LUCAS LEDWABA The message is clear and somewhat challenging. Messages from those who live no more are always like that. And the messenger in this case is none other than reggae icon Lucky Dube. The man who proudly wore the crown of South Africa's King of Reggae for two decades lives no more but his words from the song, Reggae Strong, Live on, more relevant today than ever. "Remember what Lucky Dube said?" asks reggae man Colbert Mukwevho of Harley and the Rasta Family. Of course. Who can forget? Nobody can stop reggae 'cause reggae is strong They tried to kill it many years ago killing the prophets of reggae... The genre is something of an endangered species in South Africa. It has been for a while. Radio stations hardly play it and reggae artists hardly ever get gigs because promoters shun them like they have the plague. Even the shelves at music shops are lined with more Bob Marley and Peter Tosh albums than local reggae CDs. But since his passing last month, Dube's CDs have temporarily replaced Marley and Tosh on the shelves – just another effort to cash in on the man's music while his tragic death is still fresh in the mind of the public. Even radio stations joined the Dube bandwagon in the week after he was murdered, playing his music so often it felt like they were trying to make up for the times they let his records gather dust in their storerooms while he still lived. South African reggae music is in trouble. Reggae bands with talent and potential such as Angola and Oyaba have been ignored in the past, and although the likes of Mukwevho are adamant reggae will not die, this list is likely to grow if things don't change soon. Mukwevho quit his record company when one of the producers somehow took this call for change to another level. "I was recording an album and this guy from the record company came to me and said, `My brother, you're still singing about politics? We are free, man. You must start singing about sex.` That's when I quit working with record companies and started my own," Mukwevho says. Jacob "Zakes" Wulana, lead singer of Tidal Waves, one of the few working reggae groups in SA at present, also has a bone to pick with recording companies. The group, which recently released an album titled Muzik an da Method, has been touring Europe for the past two years but is hardly known at home. "I don't understand what's happening here at home. Overseas Lucky Dube is revered. In fact, he paved the way for all South Africans. It's now easier for audiences to accept us because of what bruda Lucky did there," he says. In the few years before his passing, Dube also spend most of his time overseas because he was shunned at home. Tidal Waves is following that example. Wulana reveals they will soon be returning to Europe for another season. "I think the biggest problem with record companies is that the guy who listens to demo tapes of reggae artists is a kwaito guy who doesn't even understand the music. In the end, good music ends up being rejected by a guy who knows nothing," he says. Reggae, it seems, is another victim of time and change, especially in South Africa, where the youth care less about serious social and political issues, which are the life and soul of reggae music. This is the generation of hip-hop and kwaito, of R&B and contemporary Afro sounds. "I think the media in this country has always advocated this Western mentality, which unfortunately has led society to think like westerners. To them reggae artists are just people who smoke ganja," Wulana says. He says this has led to young, talented musicians switching to hip-hop. "The youngsters are influenced by this glamour they see around them, flashy cars and money. So when they come to reggae and find that things are a bit difficult, they run away. "But funny enough there was a time when bruda Lucky was doing so well recording companies went out of their way to find reggae artists. But in their eagerness to cash in on Lucky's success they recorded people who were not good enough. This contributed to the negative attitude to reggae," Wulana explains. Bula Music has shown confidence in reggae by recently signing up Ntshenge and The Jah Live, the hugely talented band from Thohoyandou. But unlike jazz and kwaito, for which there are many festivals featuring artists from these genres, reggae still lags behind. "Based on my past experience, reggae is not commercially viable," says Arabi Mocheke, A cultural activist and manager of Johannesburg Concerts, who a few years ago suffered huge financial losses when he brought in reggae outfits such as Chaka Demus to the country. "Reggae is loved by few people and that is because our radio stations never play it, so people cannot love what they do not know." SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago denies that the broadcaster doesn't give reggae music airplay. "The SABC is not suppressing reggae music. In fact the opposite applies. Most SABC radio stations have dedicated programs for reggae while others play reggae throughout the day. The problem that we always have is of people who think that the SABC is only about TV." Mukwevho, who organises his own gigs and sells and markets his CDs, says people are hungry for reggae music but are disheartened because they hardly ever get to hear it on radio. "Whenever I play, people come up to me after the show and ask where they can buy the music. At these shows people buy our CDs in huge numbers because they can't find them in the music shops," Mukwevho says. His unorthodox marketing and selling of his CDs saw his last album, Mulovha, Namusi na Machero, sell in excess of 45 000 copies. There seems to be hope and a steely resolve to take reggae to greater heights despite the odds. "Reggae is going to be one of the biggest genres in South Africa. People are broken in their souls and reggae music is just what this country needs to heal those souls," Wulana says. Motshekga praised for a job well done as education MEC GERSHWIN CHUENYANE City Press, 2 December 2007 Angie Motshekga, Gauteng MEC for education, has performed well above average and deserved a "B" aggregate. This is according to Amon Msane, chairperson of the education portfolio committee in the Gauteng Legislature. "If the past three years were to be used as a barometer, then Motshekga deserved a seven out of 10, although there was still a lot of room for improvement," Msane said. He was speaking to City Press on Friday, a day after the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) received an unqualified audit report for the fifth time in succession. Msane said the portfolio committee recognised Motshekga's "big task" as the political head of a department that still needed "jerking up of its systems and has a huge capacity problem." Motshekga was lauded for her innovation in handling the continued influx of learners from other provinces and neighbouring countries into Gauteng. The committee "was pleased" that GDE "provided additional teachers, mobile and prefabricated classrooms, scholar transport and nutrition to learners caught in the struggle for survival by their caregivers in search of employment opportunities in Gauteng". He also said the portfolio committee investigated the whole saga of delivery and non-delivery of learner support material and came to some conclusions. Issues that were looked at included over-pricing of materials, late delivery and the supply of materials not ordered by schools. "These issues get over-emphasised in the media, they are not as rife as portrayed," said Msane. He, however, called for an investigation into the problems regarding the supply of learner materials. Gambia taken to court over torture of editor S'THEMBISO HLONGWANE City Press, 2 December 2007 The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has filed court papers challenging the legitimacy of the detention and torture of editor Musa Saidykhan. Saidykhan (33), former editor-in-chief of the banned bi-weekly newspaper The Independent, was detained for 22 days and later released by Gambia's notorious National Intelligence Agency (NIA) over an article he had written questioning the killing of prominent local journalist Deyda Hydara. The case is the second to be filed by the Accra-based Media Foundation for West Africa at the sub-regional court. The award-winning journalist was among hundreds of people victimised by President Yahya Jammeh's security agents in the aftermath of an alleged foiled coup on March 21 last year. Saidykhan said the Gambian security agents used the foiled coup to crack down on the government's "perceived enemies", who included critically-minded journalists, politicians and human rights lawyers. These people had become victims of state agent's cruel attacks, he added. "Apart from raiding the offices of The Independent, security agents went ahead to raid and briefly detain the paper's entire staff and visitors." Gambian journalists continue to be victims of arbitrary arrests and detentions without trial for long periods. One of the victims was Chief Ebrima Manneh, a reporter of a pro-government newspaper, Daily Observer, who is still in detention after his arrest in July last year. Manneh's matter has been set down for January 31 for judgment. * Meanwhile, the Eugene Saldanha Memorial Fund was launched in Sandton on Friday. The fund will solicit donations from the general public to help train and advance media skills in the country. Saldanha, the co-founder of CAF Southern Africa, a charity organisation, was a product of Johannesburg's daily The Star's Cadet School. He died tragically of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in September last year. His brother Vincent (46) said Eugene was an ordinary South African who had a passion for the arts and media. "I hope his bequest will be passed on to the next generation." City Press editor in chief Mathatha Tsedu describe Eugene as a friend and a dedicated South African. At the time of his death Eugene, a 48-year-old father of one, had just resigned as general manager of Print Media South Africa. He completed his MBA two years earlier. He was born in Boksburg in 1958 and had obtained a law degree, taught English and worked at The Star for a few years before leaving to join CAF Southern Africa as director. Yüklə 72,66 Kb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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