Village Green Moves Show From Town to RU Campus

The National Arts Festival’s Transnet Village Green Market has moved from Fiddlers Green in the centre of Grahamstown to Rhodes University campus. The new digs are more spacious and promise a “family-friendly” environment and a bigger sales platform for South African crafts makers and vendors.

According to Festival CEO Tony Lankester, the move to the Great Fields Complex at was prompted by the need to “turn the Craft Market into something bigger”; one capable of competing on an international scale. Lankester said that the previous location at Fiddlers Green was “shabby, rundown and cramped [with] nowhere to move”. Rhodes University partnered with the Festival organisers in order to open up the campus to the townspeople ensuring that “everyone comes to Rhodes as equals”—an issue that was apparently emphasised by Rhodes Vice Chancellor Dr. Saleem Badat. Lankester admitted however, that there had been a lack of communication between the organisers and the community about the move.

This was on the backdrop of a meeting which was held on 16 June by members of the community, who were disappointed about not being kept in the loop. The community was only notified of the change through recent advertisements. Khaya Thonjeni, a member of the Grahamstown community, said that there was a perception in town that people would lose their festival income with the Market’s relocation to the more leafy Rhodes campus. Townspeople are “more comfortable [with] where it was, because Rhodes has a way of doing things,” Thonjeni said.

Luvuyo Booi, a young casual also expressed his unhappiness about the relocation and said many people such as himself faced constant harassment from security personnel when they are on campus. He said that at Fiddlers Green in town they could “move around freely like everybody else” but on campus they are treated with suspicion and in constant fear of arrest. Booi said move also made it difficult for him to earn an income as he used to wash cars near Fiddlers Green, which is impossible on campus.

Not everyone is so despondent of course. Dylan McGarry, a street performer and puppeteer said that the move was “good for street theatre” because the Great Field Complex provides a big field and stands for the street performers. He said that the positioning of the old venue was not “very equitable” but it was “less segregated at the centre of town” therefore there would need to be more publicity to bring the town’s people onto campus, who still “don’t feel they have access to Rhodes University”.

The Village Green Market is one of the most popular aspects of the Arts festival and seems to have found a comfortable new home on Rhodes campus.

• Reported and written by Chwayitisa Futshane, Colin Wardle, Ongeza Ndlakuse and Jane Mathebula.

Festival goes to prison

By FJP reporters

“The Arts festival is really powerful, touches different people magically and changes attitudes,” said Tony Lankester, CEO of the National Arts Festival held in Grahamstown annually. Last year, Lankester and his people donated over R200.000 worth of tickets to groups and people from around Grahamstown and the Eastern Cape.

Community outreach has played a major role in sustaining interest in the arts especially among the more isolated parts of Grahamstown like age-old homes, the TB Clinic, the Old Provost Prison and Joza Township. Lankester told an FJP press conference yesterday that they help build bridges through Art Reach, which takes productions and artists to audiences who cannot get to Rhodes and surrounding high school venues.

The festival also uses the Phezulu Project, a programme that assists street artists (Buskers) to create and maintain their craft. The project is headed by Richard Antrobus who used to perform with the First Physical Theatre Company and now teaches Buskers the more technical forms of theatre.

“We want people to feel that this is their festival,” Lankester said.

Reported and Written by Zukiswa Sidzumo, Masebe Qina, Lucky Mdletshe and Amanda O Mathe

Is Fringe the new 'Main'?

‘Fringe’ is the latest buzzword at the National Arts Festival, which has returned to Grahamstown for the 35^th year this year.

The showcase of well-known and aspiring performers has always been categorised into two The Main, whose performers are vetted, invited and paid for by the National Arts Festival; and the Fringe, which attracts those whose only link to officialdom filling a registration form, paying a refundable registration fee, and paying a venue fee for their production.

National Arts Festival CEO, Tony Lankester, said the Fringe serves as an open platform and a “stepping stone” for upcoming artists. Of this year’s 600 productions, Fringe has 450 shows, by far the largest part of the festival—and includes physical theatre, music theatre and drama.

• Reporting and writing by Lwando Helesi, Hunadi Ralebipi, Samukelisiwe Makhubo, Bongani Mthethwa.

Festival has not felt credit crunch!

The 35th annual National Arts Festival (NAF), taking place between 2 and 11 July in Grahamstown will sustain the city’s economic stability regardless to the global recession according to CEO, Tony Lankester. He was talking at a press conference arranged for the Future Journalist Programme yesterday.

The Rhodes Conferencing Office Manager, Carolyn Stevenson-Milln confirmed that over 4000 locals will be hired as temporary workers in Halls of Residence around campus. Rhodes normally rents out its residences to tourists and festival goers, and Milln said their rent helps keep the students’ residence fees low.

Lankester told the FJP press conference that the success of the festival has kept sponsors aboard because of its unrivalled capacity to generate profit.

Standard Bank has always been there for the festival, and it has upped its sponsorship up to 2011. Their CEO says Jacko Maree told the press recently that “the festival has always been a platform for freedom of expression and, in the corporate and financial world. “We know that a free society is the best environment for our business to grow,” Maree added.


Reporting and writing by Andile Dube, Jeffrey Shisinga, Sophiane Bengeloun, Anele Ngwenya.

Village Green relocates to Rhodes campus

Festival in big venue move
By FJP Reporters

With the National Arts Festival in its 35th and what promises to be its biggest year, the ever-popular and growing Transnet Village Green Fair has relocated to a bigger venue. In keeping with international arts and crafts trends, the Village Green Fair has relocated to the Great Field Complex on Rhodes campus, a larger and more people friendly venue.

According to National Arts Festival CEO Tony Lankester, this move promises to provide a new “family-friendly environment” that will accommodate more stalls for adults and amusement outlets for children. Organisers also hope to attract more international arts and crafts distributors.

Other new features at the new venue include plasma television screens in the new beer garden and Amazing Stage, a platform for Fringe performers to stage snippets from their work. It will also feature a new ticket office, a restaurant, an all-new Cuervo Music Room, and Wi-Fi access for those with laptop computers.

Additionally, the former Church Square Container Village has moved down to Fiddler’s Green, the former Transnet Village Green Fair grounds, promising a uniquely Street Theatre- laden African Arts and Crafts experience.

Reported and written by Chwayitisa Futshane, Colin Wardle, Ongeza Ndlakuse & Jane Mathebula

FLu's, Exams and the Confed Cup

I find it so interesting how everyone is just sick around about this time every year. Personally its the first time that I'm actually sick with the flu, however I must say it is fun being sick because you get away with murder. You can do or say something stupid and your excuse can be it's the medication that's talking.

On another note the exams. I would like to believe that I am fortunate that Bongani and myself don't write exams, however I must state our department applies the continuous assessment programme in order for us to apply the theory. In the beginning I found it hard to adjust from the usual exam mentality to the constant handing in of assignments that require you to apply everything you have been taught, something that I wish was emphasized more properly.

The Confederations Cup is amazing to watch. I thought that South Africa could not pull it off, but the matches I have being seeing lately make it interesting enough for me to buy a ticket for the world"That's if i get a job!?" When I saw the opening ceremony I felt a sense of pride in South Africa and Africa as whole. I think that as South Africans we spend most of time looking at the negatives and the realities of the situation and little on the positives and possible outcomes. I think the world is waiting in anticipation to see what Africa can other than the constant civil wars and crime stats that they hear about from the media. I believe the media is partly to blame for the way we view situations around the country. Last night's soccer S.A vs New Zealand made so proud that it erased all the prior failures.

I hope that as future journos we can realise that we hold society in our hands, that we can often determine how people think and respond. Let us use that power to better this nation.

hellllllloooo eeevvvveeerrryyyyooonnneee

wow! exams fever got high of me.

how's everyone guys. how many of us noticed that we spent most of time reading what we know when preparing for our exams? stress realy got hold of me during the exams preparations,but thank God he never leave nor forske me. i made it ,though some of my semester marks were misbehaving(lol if you know what i mean, and above all i cant wait to see you guys. forgive me for my previous behaviour, i was stressed with books,but this time i promise you guys you will have the whole of jeffrey(the me, myself and i)

9 months no houses for tornado victims -Grahamstown

It was in early October 2008 when the mini tornado hit Grahamstown; a number of residents, especially in Vukani location were left houseless. Early this year they were provided with two room –tents and promised to be in their houses by the end of March 2009. Elections came and passed in April 2009 and still the houses were not in place as promised. Attempts to speak with the officials failed a number of times due to their unavailability. In an ever changing Grahamstown weather I personally witnessed that the tents are not in good condition. They have holes and the winter freezing wind just blows in, they are small as you can hear from the audio accompanying this article. Sad enough residents do not even know who their councillor is, they are only depending on the coming of the officials when they like to do so. The hope is on the new government if they can deliver something different for these residents.

Only listen the first part of this podcast which is relevant to this article otherwise you can listen to the rest for interests' sake.

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Simphiwe Kanityi 08

E Class is saying hello to all Future journos.

E-Class from Durban University Of Technology are saying hello to all the Future Journos and they wish you all the best with your exams. Guess what guys they want me to come back with more lovely pictures of all of you.

E-Class under the tree of knowledge. From Left to Right: S'boniso Biyela; Bongani Mthethwa; Zakhele Xaba; Simphiwe Makhanya and Simphiwe Ngubane.

Mandela day

I have just listened to what the president of South Africa had to say when addressing the nation today. Same noise as always, same promises as his predecessors used to do but one thing is for sure we need to give the man and all the elected ministers a chance before we could start criticising. Of all the things he was saying there, I was so delighted when he made mention of the fact that from now onwards our icon's birthday will be honoured in a very special way. I am talking by the one and only Tata Nelson Rholihlahla Mandela the man I so greatly admire. The 18 of July of each and every year will be a Mandela day where everybody will be expected to at least spend 67 minutes of his/her time doing good things for the benefit of the others (Apparently Mandela was a politician for 67 years). Cheers for now!

Time flies hey. I cannot believe we are only left with 10 days before the commencement of the confed cup. For the first time on the African soil the tournament will be staged in Mzantsi thanks to tata Mandela and the LOC,Ah Rholihlahla and all the people who made it possible. For the first time in as many months I have some form of confidence in the boys this time around. I think they will make us proud. The best player in the country is part of the squad remember so I've got every reason to feel the way I do. Good luck guys as the exams are happening left,right and centre now.

Exams

Hey guys! This is just a quick good luck messsage for the exams. We dont write exams but that does not mean we are just chillin'. Things are tough, assignments and test have become our daily bread. I comfort myself by saying it will be over soon.

Goodluck people, but Im sure youll do well!

Much love
ongi

Hi guyz! I have'got the feeling within maself that you must be wondering ukuba where I've been hiding. No I'm not my fellow people its just that the work has been much and its been a little difficult.How are you guyz coping? How is winter? It is very cold in East London and I am scared of swine flu ha ha ha.....

Mbeki brings African Unity to Rhodes

We live in a country where by it is important to reinforce academic and democratic ideals and one of the most important ways of making that happen is by taking the time to reflect on our continent and the its history. Do we really unite as Africans or do just prefer to section ourselves within our ethnic groups? This was the agenda on the tray for South Africa’s former president, Mr Thabo Mbeki who gave a speech at Rhodes University about African pride and integrity.

This was an event to start off the Africa week programme which has been planned by students. “They had the courage to summon me here”, Mbeki said with a smirk. It’s the things like this which make one proud to be part of a space of youth with more than enough bravery and initiative to see how far they could make things happen. I would like to thank the students who organised this event- we truly are fortunate to have them amongst us otherwise there would be a time when I'd wonder if I would've ever seen Mr Mbeki.

Besides the exited souls outside the Rhodes theatre thinking,” gosh, I get to see him”; I was particularly proud at the behaviour of my fellow students. No singing of ‘struggle’ songs outside and no spontaneous dance acts. No, “comrades, comrades settle down”. (Thank you) Before he came in, the crowd around was wondering whether he was going to pull a ‘Julius Malema’ or not- i.e. was he going to show up? Unfortunately, phones were to be switched off. But I played the ‘dangerous journo’ and sneaked in a couple of pics. Although they were not the best of quality- they’ll do! I’ve also posted a video which I hope you’ll be able to see.

Mbeki walked onto the podium, looked at the crowd and as he started speaking; his quiet and effortless charisma surrounded the theatre. His slow pauses in between his words kept us in suspense as we waited for the ‘next best quote’ from him. All eyes were in wonder because in actual fact, he was everything we expected him to be and he wore a seemingly familiar grey suit. Breaking the ice; he told us about his new cell phone which he’s been ridiculously trying to get used to- reminds me of my dad!

“It is important to recognise that South Africa is part of Africa. Africa has been forgotten”, he began. Do we as a country associate ourselves with the continent or are we just sitting in our corner? This can cause so many problems for us as a people. Before even touching on the continent of Africa; it was quite annoying to find a couple of students who felt that somehow, Mbeki should’ve addressed the speech in IsiXhosa. Now, I asked myself,” but what about me? - I’m Zulu”. Mbeki even asked, “Is there a Xhosa society?” and all the super-exited students screamed, “Yeah- oh Yeah”. He then promptly asked, “What is that?” That is the question we need to ask ourselves, why is there no African society? It’s ok to realize ones pride in their language, but to be convinced that the crowd should know isiXhosa- which is only one of the official languages- is just stirring up a debate of disaster. The truth is that more than half of Rhodes students are not Xhosa and by an implication that one needs to spoken in one of the mother tongues to be African, many of us Zulu, Sotho, Venda and even English students were offended. Its thoughts like this which causes assumptions of exclusion by South Africans in relation to the continent.
On the issues of development, Mbeki went on to talk about what the youth can do ‘from the grass-roots’ in order to change what is happening. “Don’t make an excuse of being a ‘normal’ person unable to do anything- just to avoid making change”, he said. We need to understand that Africa is not incapable of helping itself. If anything, we have the right organizations and unions; however, Africa always feels that it needs to seek help from other continents i.e. Europe for help. Mbeki says that we need to make an effort and refuse to be defined by the rest of the world.

After the speech, the question and answer session started and the most distinctive issue was that of HIV/AIDS. A woman in the crowd asked Mr Mbeki to explain his earlier comment about the disease not being an issue in South Africa. His diplomacy was more than pleasing as he explained the issues of the disease and its importance. “They said I must not say anything”, he joked. “But the issue of the disease being an immune virus is important” he continued. He meant that in other words, we need to find solutions to strengthen the immune system of our people as health and education are the most important issue in Africa. He ended saying that, “We would respond better if we understood the questions”. Meaning that we need to ask questions as what the problems are so that we can face the issues in a better way.

I wish that this did not sound like a report, but there are so many things which were important about Mr Mbeki’s address that there is no other way of saying things better than he had. There was a large amount of unfortunates that missed this historic event. It’s as if he didn’t come to Rhodes to redeem himself as a political image; but rather to move on up and lead a legacy of leadership.

The count-down begins...

Am i the only one thats noticed that June is right next door. Granted June means its exam time but even better than that...FEST and yes drumroll please, we are all gonna be back together again r u not as excited as I am.

I'm so stoked to see everyone one again but right now ofcourse I wish you all the best for the upcoming exams work hard folks becuase we aint getting to Third year without getting through this year.

Le dulce Vita

See you all soon soon.

Mcwa
C

My views towards "birthdays"

We just voted trying to make a change. Now Let take for instant.My birthdate is on june 13 this coming month,so i wouldn't mind if anyone who knows me can buy me a gift,wherether belatest or what as long as He or She will supricse me with a gift at the end.So I think it great thing to share a birthday cellebration by contributing somehow.I am expecting something to people who know me on my birthday.belatest it will be fine by me."Your coorparation will bring a change,let do practical not theory".A change begins at home.

Taking back the Night...

This day the 8 May 2009 marks the fourth anniversary of the Rape judgment which gave Jacob Zuma freedom on a silver platter and denied justice to Kwezi "the rape survivor". Tomorrow Jacob Zuma becomes the president of the Republic of South Africa, a truly sad day in SA history. But TONIGHT, we took back the night! With all this in mind, today also marked a very important day on the Rhodes calendar "the 1 in 9 campaign", where over 400 hundred students participated in the biggest movement yet on campus.

From early this morning over 200 women had their mouths tapped shut, including yours truly, to represent the 8 in 9 rape survivors who remain silenced by an injustice society, where rape is made 'okay' because we refuse to ackowledge that it is a plague affecting our country. Your mother, your sister, your niece, your brother and nephew are all potential victims including yes, me and even YOU. Rape is no longer just my problem or yours, it is OURS. So today we broke the SILENCE and we marched in the early evening and took back the night.

"I said NO!", "My Vagina says NO!", "My Vagina is Pissed off", "Real men don't rape".

Enough is enough!!!

can we please pick this bone.

Hello everyone. I have a bone I will like us to pick. The topic says, what do we call a 50 year old person who does not show the characteristics of maturity? I think it will be best if you can first tell what does mature person do. While still on that line, what difference can you show or tell between a boy and a man. These are the topics that we discussed in our university during our social gatherings at student Christian organization (sco)

THIS FREEDOM WE HAVE TODAY SOME PEOPLE DIED FOR IT.

Yesterday we were celebrating Freedom Day and some people put their lives on the line for us to have that freedom. Maybe its time we look back and take the good things those people did for me and you to enjoy this freedom today. We can look at the Youth of 1976, they did not have this freedom we have today but they fought for what they believed in and they did it. The mistake that we do as the youth of today is to think that the struggle is over. I truely believe that even if have freedom but we can not say the struggle is over. How can we say its over if we have the high rate of unemployed young people? How can we say its over if we are dying from Hiv/Aids? How can we say its over if we have the problem of drugs abuse and violence in our schools?
The youth of 1976 fought against the apartheid government, we have to make ourselves employable. They had to wore baraclavas to protect themselves from the teargas, we have to wear condoms to protect ourselves from Hiv/Aids. They had to fight the usage of Afrikaans in native schools, we have to fight the usage of drugs and violence in our schools.
So we can not say the struggle is over yet the only difference is that we are fighting the different battle today.

Are you Free or are you Dom...

The 27 April 2009, marks 15 years since the first democratic elections in South Africa. So technically if our democracy was a person, she would be celebrating her fifteenth birthday, having just entered the dreaded stages of puberty. Recognising how immature we all were at that tender age, perhaps we should give props to South Africa, for showing a lot of maturity as indicated by the April 22 elections.

Now moving on from my favourite subject POLITICS, I hope you all have a superb FREEDOM Day. Spend it catching up on school work I would advice, after all the right to quality education was one of the many freedoms which was fought for in years gone by. "Me, myself, personally" (Jeffrey, 2009), much work must yet be done before I'm finally in the groove of this new term.

While I am on the subject of work, kindly log onto www.rhodesmusicradio.co.za and listen live every Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday MORNING between 7 and 9 to your girl Cee.

Till next time.

X marks the Spot...

I waited four days before I finally did this because I wanted to see what South Africa thought first, before I made my comments. Yes, I am talking about the most fulfilling moment yet in my short life, marking my X on the ballot.

I am barely 20 years old so I had yet to partake in my universal right to have my voice heard. The only truth I knew when I cast my vote, is that my decision was made to protect the values that I believe South Africa still stands for.

We had had so many a heated discussions during the Program based entirely on the then upcoming elections that it was part of the fuel which energized me as I cast my vote. At that moment, I truly believed that a change was dawning on this country, that the vice grip that the ANC has had on the country was finally abating and that I could finally call South Africa a democratic country with a viable opposition party(s). That the ANC garnered 66% of the vote but very importantly, missed the highly contested 2/3 majority, surely reinvigorated the hope and belief I have in this country. The people had spoken.
Granted the ANC won an outright majority, but what I see as encouraging is that there were still millions of South Africans, who put their faith in an opposing party and for that I thank all South Africans.

Democracy is an ongoing process and every society defines the boundaries of democracy differently and I strongly believe that South Africa is slowly on the way to establishing a truly democratic society. My one little vote represented my one screaming voice, but I can see that together, someday our voices will make someone LISTEN. Once again I thank you South Africa for casting your vote and making your voices heard.

FJP students in the media!

FJP students published on City Press online

Jeffrey Shisinga, one of our FJP 2009 participants from University of Limpopo has had his election pics published on City Press online! Check it out: http://jv.news24.com/City_Press/Gallery/Home/0,,galleries-48-7564,00.html.

Anele Ngwenya, FJP 2009, and Simphiwe Kanityi, FJP 2008, also had their voting experiences published on the City Press website:
http://jv.news24.com/City_Press/Elections/0,,186-2483_2505166,00.html.

Dj in the making

Justice Mduduzi Nyalunga, a student at University of Zululand and FJP participant 2008, is in the Top 10 of a Dj competition to become Gagasi 99.5fm’s new dj! Each week two people will be voted off over the next 6 weeks, starting this past Monday.

Please support Justice by smsing "Dj 7" to 39068. Smses cost R1.50. You can vote as many times as you like. Also see the finalists, including Dj7, on http://www.gagasi995.co.za/competitions_Vodacom.htm and keep up with the competition. Justice will also be co-hosting the 12:00-15:00 show tomorrow so listen if you can and support a one of our own! You can listen to the show via their website by clicking on Listen Live.

Those of us who know Justice also know how much he loves radio. Justice did live daily reports from the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown for SABC radio station, Ligwalagwala FM, last year. WELL DONE to him for making it into the Top 10 of the competition.

Well done to all the FJP students!

Voted today!... Yes I did- indeed

Today, I voted for the first time ever- there were no nerves at all until my dad called me and put on his ‘do-this-or-else’ voice, “Anele, make the right choice!”. That’s when he advised me to vote for a certain party in order to get what I want for my country. As the queue shrunk a bit, I thought to myself; what kind of a difference would I be making by voting.

I don’t think many young people know that; although we are tiny little particles- we still make up a dense vote towards our country- so that we can contribute to the maintenance of democracy and human rights. Young people, as educated as we are, do not consider the change which could occur by our vote. There was a guy in front of me who hadn’t registered or had his ID- he said he was not aware that we had to go through ‘all of that’ to vote. My argument is that this kind of lethargic behaviour is exactly what will bring our country to ruins.

When we vote, it’s as though sigcina icala ( doing it for the sake of freeing our conscience) and we don’t understand that disadvantaged people fight for so much more- water, lights, health care. We can still get our birthday BMW’s- because our middle class parents can work for that but somewhere out there- there is a person drinking dirty water.

As young, educated and politically aware people, we should get in line and make the right decisions- not because we feel like it but simply because it’s the right thing to do so that the next young person can get electricity to read a book.

Thumbs up!

I went and voted today and I have the inked thumb to prove it.

Woke up this morning...

I woke up not all that excited to go and vote. Sure the novelty had worn off, but it was more the dilemma of who do I vote for. But that is not the point. The point is that I did go and vote some time after 1pm.

I was not going to do the whole waking up at 4am and camping outside of the Rhodes University Theatre (which is where I voted). I value my sleep much too much. After watching all the political leaders and fellow South Africans voting around the country on the various TV channels (local and international), I finally took the not so long walk to the voting station.

Short walk to a long queue

I was pretty relaxed about it, not expecting a long queue at all as I had voted here before and never stood in a queue. I remembered literally popping in and popping right out. Imagine my shock when I arrived and could not see the back of the queue from the front of it. It was going to be a loooong day. I contemplated going back home and coming back 10 minutes before closing time, but a friend I had not seen in about two years, who is now studying in Port Elizabeth, was in town for the day to vote and convinced me to "just get it over with". Easy for her to say when she could see the door from where she was, but she had a point and I made my way to the back of the queue. This is not the kind of queue where your mate can squeeze you in and you crack a joke to diffuse the daggers in the eyes of the people behind you.

As I stood in the line (as we call it in SA) I regretted not bringing a book or my ipod or my phone's hands free at least to free myself from the torture of listening to 'funky' first years talking about cool things and boys. I mean let them talk on but I'll skip it any day. I'm getting old, deal with it.

X marks the party

But I finally made it to the promised land, had my ID scanned and received the little ticket with my ID number on it. Then moved on to the guy with the 'push-back' hair style who crossed out my name on the list. Then it was off to the inking lady, followed by the two ballot paper ladies who handed me my stamped provincial and national ballot papers. Off I went into the booth where my cross was made, after a moment of taking all of it in and what it meant for me and my country. Out the booth, into the boxes they went and with that my contribution to democracy and the future was made. Exhale.

Show me your thumbs up!

I was saying to my sister over the phone tonight that voting is just the first step in us becoming more responsible and active citizens. I think the reason I stood in a longer queue than I had previously, was because South Africans have finally woken up to living out "the people shall govern" and all the political drama has reminded us that we cannot govern on our bottoms. We must get up, go and do something. It's up to us to ensure that our votes mean something by holding the people we voted for accountable to their promises.

So, did you brave the queues and maybe even the cold, as many South Africans did, and voted? Let's see your thumbs up! Take a picture of your inked thumb and post it on the blog.

Sharp sharp!

Moagisi

pictures and comments for elections 2009

Iam Jeffrey Shisinga student at university of Limpopo turfloop campus. I am currently doing second level for a degree in media studies. these are the pictures and comments that I got from the people who were in the poll at university of Limpopofor the 2009 general electins. the first two are phoshoko Donald and japhta Lebese raising their hands , who are the anc party agent. this is what they said ,"currently here at turfloop the elections are going smooth ,we are sure that Anc has already won because we have lobbied many students during our campaign" The second picture is for all parties agents monitoring the polls as you can see they are inside the hall where people are voting. the lady from the right is Mphahlele Meryjane , who is the party agent for cope this is what she said, in history of south African politics cope is growing rapidly , so we are sure that also the results are going to be like that(growing rapidly). The third picture is the masses of students who were still on the Que tho go and vote. amongst them is Caiphus Senona who said that " we do not want manual voting in the future we would prefer the electronic system like SMS and face booking.because people are intimidating us". there was a group of students who were wearing Anc t-shirts standing near the Que where people were queuing .


by Jeffrey Shisinga

students from different university

these are the media studies students(2nd level) from ul,uj,uct, fort hare, mango suthu buthelezi and rhodes. we were attending the programme called future journalists programe held at rhodes university, from the 4th up to the 10th of april 2009. it was a fun and a eriendly way of exposing us(students ) to the top profession of media industries.

Future Journalists Programme: SOME WISDOM

http://onamandla-stuff.blogspot.com

FJP- The Fun Times

Pictures are memories captured in a second, minute or in a hours or hours. They often tell the truth without saying much. They also tell of good times and special times. Times that can be forever cherished even when time passes by.

Elections campaigns are waste of money!

For me all this campaigns for the up comming ellections are now the waste of money,the reason why I am saying this is because if you look all the billboards aside of the road, it only about political party especialy ANC(am not taking side am neutral) But it clear to everyone that posters of JZ are all over and that limits the space of advertising for the 2010 for the comming world cup and other important ads that can be put on boards.No offence to anyone!

SOME WISDOM

Some wisdom has just came to me.

In this world there are the people who will forever search for something that will give meaning. Then there are those people who are just passer by's. You then have the Domineering ones that believe that they will some day control the world. Then you have people such as ourselves.

I was not the spirit of goodwill or teamspirit but it was the spirit of UBUNTU and the spirit that even though we are all uniquically made there is something common, something that binds us, something that some many philosophers have explained and will try to explain and no amount of DNA or links or blood line will prove that it is the heart and mind the unites us all into one ball of candy floss.

What i have witnessed here is something spectacular and irreplaceble and NO! not the song but the truth that will forever be memorable even after the years have passed. Now i know it may not make sense i don't even get what im saying im just merely delievering the message that wonderful people are not just made by there backgrounds but the way one chooses to face the worlds challenges.

Take time to reflect because not everyone gets that opportunity.

how do u tell the whole class that you are not selected

if god says yes then relax and wait for your turn. guys i want to share with you, the discouragement i went through before i got here at future journalists programme. it was friday afternoon i was attending media class @ 15:50. when mr muswede( media lecturer) came to class and he announced that myself and nadi are selected to attend the future journalists programme at rhodes. remember it was thursday and by friday @ 8:00 i was expected to bring my cv to prof mmusi's office. heeee the following day when i went there i found the secretary and she said to me, "i dont no you so i cant fax your stuff(cv)". i didnot have money to go off camp and fax my stuff. so i begged, beggedand begged. finaly she said bring. when i thought that the breakthrough has arrived. she looked at my cv and said, "i dont think they will take you". for my suprise according to what i have read from the paper that was sent to us by the fjp's coorddinators, it said, just supply us with students(2) that you think are more deserving. it was not for her to judge. believe it or not i stayed few days being hurt in my heart, because it was announced in front of everyone in class and yet someone's telling you that i dont think they will take you. mind you every student keeps on saying to you , aah man you realy deserve it. how do you then explain to them(students)?

The fun we've had!

Ongezwa
Today is the last day for us here at the Future Journalist Programme Workshop at Rhodes University. It is a sad day but it’s ok. Some of us miss home and some don’t. But we keep telling ourselves that we will see each other in June. That’s pretty close if you think about it. I remember when we first arrived, it was strange. We didn’t know each other but after a day or so things changed. We were no longer strangers but a team.
I, for one, didn’t know what to expect or what was expected of us but within no time I felt comfortable. The camp was my first camp, it was my first time away from home, and I have never had to spend days with strangers. The outcome for me was great. Teamwork, friendship, patience, confidence and trust are just a few of the things that we learned from the Team Building Camp at Umlambo. As we got back from the Camp we did a lot together and shared our life experiences. That for me has made me realise that there’s more to life and also that nothings impossible. This programme has been a real eye-opener for me and probably the whole group.

What destroys/build my community?

I would like to write about the community where I come from, what seems to be destroying and building it. I live in a township called Zwelitsha in King Williams Town.
We have a Head office of the South African Police Service, Department of Education and Home Affairs. All these that I have just mentioned helps to build my community by creating jobs, using the community radio”Izwele2 fm” informing the unemployed first before post are advertised on newspapers.
We as a community benefit largely. In terms of crime, the restructuring of Head offices has played an impact in lowering the crime rate in most of the areas. Previously the Head office of SAPS was in Bhisho. We have a community executive that is progressive and works together with the police. As a community we are always briefed and warned about any particular event that will be taking place in the community, for example “ electricity, water, meetings etc”
What basically destroys my community?
Firstly let me highlight that my community is Xhosa Orientated .Mostly children lack education...They don’t have respect for anyone and I personally think it’s because they don’t go to school. During school hours they go taverns or sheebens, alcohol is sold to everyone, regardless of your age. Unless of course you are about 9, 10,11etc
The billboards that are mostly hanged and grab attention are the ones that destroy our youth. For Example: “ABORTION IS SAFE”. For me it promotes unsafe sex and increase of HIV/Aids. I think we can use those billboards for informative and entertaining projects, i.e. “warning on cholera, how to use water etc”. Everyone just seems to be living for the sake of living, no dreams or goals. I feel that something must be done as I truly believe that our future lies in our hands.

Valuing your tradition, culture and language.

I am a Zulu woman. I have the body of the body of a Zulu woman. Umhlanga was something I went to before I did the sin in the Bible and what is wrong in my culture (losing my virginity.) The first words I learnt to say were mama, baba meaning mommy and daddy in my Zulu language. Because my parents wanted us to go to schools that they thought were schools of better education I was sent to a private Afrikaans English school. This did not change the fact that I was a Zulu girl who did her rituals. A girl who knew her language very well. I learnt the Boers and the English way of living, I was forced to forget my language and learn theirs. But one thing I never forgot was, I’m still a Zulu girl. My dad always told us that as soon as we leave the school gates we tune into what him and my mother taught us. That is what has made me value my culture and language till this day. Go on as much as you like that times have changed, but as far as I’m concerned your identity is formed by these aspects of your life. Knowing your roots, your family history is a very important thing. I have nothing against English, my point is that, speak the language threw your noise but don’t forget your language. Don’t forget who you are, where you from. This is to young people who want to forget that they have they own culture, language and traditions. But are quick in following and telling you more about other people’s cultures.

when days are dark........are few!

One might probably be wondering why on earth this guy (the writer) will say something like this. Please take a deep breath and calm yourself down. I’m about to share with you the reaction that I got when days were dark in my life. I used to have many friends; rich, poor, classy and the ‘neutral’ you name them . But my friend, listen carefully to what I’m about to share with you.I was doing grade 8. We (together with my friends) used to go and hang around in the bushes looking after cows. One day I got stuck in the river bed, because it was rainy season. What happens then must be the only question that is roaming around your mind right now I guess! Yes stuck in the river bed, I could even imagine it now as I’m telling you this my friend. Every one of them and I mean all of them were looking at me and laughing. I tried to show them how much it was hurting in that muddy place, but none of them took me seriously.Next to that river bed was the hole, where a legavaan (creature looks like crocodile) used to stay. Imagine it now my friend stuck in that hole and no one sees what you see in the hole. What do you do then my friend? I know it’s my duty to let you know what I did. Unfortunately I couldn’t help myself. It was deep. I had to get someone who will pull me out of the hole coz it was deep. Guess what happened to my so called “favourite friends”, they eventually ran and they left me there, inside the hole. If it was not for the messiah who was passing by, you or should I say yourself would not be reading about something like this.

by jeff.

Fun never lasts long

FUTURE JOURNALISTS PROGRAMME

I have come full circle moment at the Future Journalists Programme. The experience and opportunity to be able to meet new people who share the same goal as yourself is just absolutely amazing to me.

I had never imagined myself attending this programming purely because the guy that went before me was the top student in his 2nd year clas and I on the other hand was one of the top students and other people had better results then myself and to add to the bonus Bongani was picked and he is the most deserving person in my opinion.

When I arrived at Grahmstown I felt like I was in another country because it just doesn't look like the rest of South Africa, it actually looked like we are in Europe. Excitment filled me from every toe to every finger even though it was cold outside. My first interaction with FJP's as we call ourselves was Andile and Lucky who are from the University of Zululand. The next person was the coordinator of the programme whom in their first e-mail came across as a male but is actuall very cute young women, although I must state that she is very short and pietiet and in actual fact I thought she was quite small until I got used to Mo, her is Moagisi Letlhaku.

The next people were Anele and Chwathiya from Rhodes University, oh by the way Anele asked Bongz if we knew Sizwe and you won't believe it, but the world is actually very small cause everyone knows each other in some way. We everyone arrived and waited at the parking lot I got to see some new faces but didn't actually talk to them. The camp while that's for another posts. Guys thanx for a great time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

The standard of soccer in South Africa!

Is the South African soccer advancing or not in standard compared to its African counterparts?

That is the question on everybody’s lips as we are heading towards the Confederations Cup to be contested for in South Africa. Top teams from around the world will be coming down to our shores to battle it out in what promises to be a great event of football. Not long after that, the mother of all the soccer tournaments, the world cup will also be staged in the Republic of South Africa thanks to the efforts of the Country’s former President Nelson Rholihlahla Mandela and the Local Organising Committee headed by Dr Irvin Khoza and Danny Jordan.

But things do not look as pretty inside the field of play as they are outside of it. The standard has been deteriorating since the Country won its first and only African Championship trophy in 1996. Once ranked top on the African Continent and 17th in the World to a dismal 77th on the world, there is a cause for concern. A drastic plan has to be brought about or else South African football is going down.

Bon Voyage!

It's 1400hrs (excuse the military term) and we're about ready to call it a week.

Some are off tonight (all the way to Pretoria, Durban, Cape Town) and some will leave tomorrow (for Queenstown and nearer towns). But by breakfast on Saturday, all our '09 Journos will be home. Here's hoping that you don't hate your parents--or you will have a long winter!

Mo and myself will of course stay here--here being Rhodes University. We shall be sending you a lot of positive energy.

Bon Voyage!
Sim

The words of thank to FJPcordinator

The word of thank to FJP programme participant and cordinator of this programme.
I would first love to say that I really enjoyed being here at Rhodes university together with an each every one of you, from different institutions and especially to the programme director Miss Mougisi, Mr Sim kyazze a lecture of cause to and others people who contributed to this programme, for us as second year’s students to have this opportunity. Secondly we gained a lot from this programme what I expected and unexpected thing that I knew taking them granted. From day one from the camp going there thinking that it just for fun, but I was surprised from what we done there and everything we done there was very related from the courses that I do at my institution.
From my experience here at Rhodes University through the FJP programme, this university is privilege with infrastructure or resources such as the lab just for journalist, studio for practical work, and radio station of practical work. From what I gained am willing to share it with my school mate when I get back to school.

It is sad that we have to part.

Oh my gosh!!! In couple of hours from know we will be leaving Rhodes heading back home, how boring. I just don’t want to think of the journey because really I feel like going to the bathroom and throwing up, it makes me sick. The fact that I will not sleep but tossing and turning on that little bus seat for sixteen hours creating images in my head and making as if I am dreaming ,just doesn’t work for me. But well, it is worth it, the experience at Rhodes was lovely, and I just cannot express how I enjoyed every second at the Umlambo camp site all I can say is AWESOME.
Out of all the fun I had I have to complain, Moagisi we understand that you don’t want us to get home and say you starved us to death but my pants don’t fit anymore, you guys need to be sued even if you didn’t force the food down our thoughts, Kidding. I loved every single thing we did and I can’t wait to come back in June.
YOU GUYS ROCK!

WHATS MAKES THEM BIGGER THAN OTHERS?

What is it really that determine whether you are a big team or not? Let’s look at it this way, in South African football (PSL) we have four teams that are regarded as the big teams in the country. Which are Kaizer Chiefs; Orlando pirates; Sundowns and Moroka Swallows.
Someone may argue that how can we say some of these teams are the big and best when they have never won a trophy in ten years? On the other hand there are teams like Supersport United that are doing very well but we do not regard to them as the big teams. What is it that makes them bigger than the others? Is it the number of supporters they have nationally? Is it have something to do with their history? Is it how much money they have or quality of players they have?
I don’t think so; look at Bloemfontein Celtic it has much more supporters than some of those so called” big” teams. Supersport United won the League title last year and it looks like they are going to defend it this year but they are not in a list of so called “big” teams. Ajax Cape Town won the Telkom knockout last year beating one of the “big” teams. Look at the current knockout competition, the NedBank Cup, all these teams exited in early stages of the tournament, but we still regard to them as big teams. Why?
Do you want to know what I think about all this? I think Orlando Pirates and Moroka Swallows are in that list just because they are the old teams in ABSA Premiership. For Mamelodi Sundowns, its just because the team president have so much money that he puts in the club. I remember one day he heard that there is a South African best player called Makhaya Ntini and he said “we must get that player in our team, how much does he want?” He didn’t know that Makhaya is a cricket player. Kaizer Chiefs is in that list because their cabinet is full of trophies that they won long time ago (during the NSL), but that’s the way I look at it. They say soccer is a universal language maybe you will have a different opinion from mine.

The wheels on the buss go round and round?

It’s been almost two years since I was last in Grahamstown for the National Arts Festival and it was a lot colder then. Frankly I didn’t think Grahamstown was capable of temperatures higher than 22°C and found myself pleasantly surprised at my ability to roam around in a t-shirt and shorts without becoming hypothermic. Quite the contrary really, as we approached Grahamstown last Saturday the sun just seemed to get brighter and hotter with every kilometre till it eventually reached a torturous 31°C.

Eventually we arrived, and I got off the bus with a bag full of assignments and partially done laundry. My mind however had been depleted by the journey here from Cape Town, which is partially why I had such difficulty introducing myself and constructing complete sentences that morning. In what would seem a cruel twist of fate we still had to get on another bus and head to our campsite outside Umlambo. What was estimated to be an hour and a half drive became a three hour pre-Easter Egg hunt as the driver made a series of missed and wrong turns in search the campsite. I actually consider this as our first teambuilding exercise, once we realised the driver was lost we all started making calls and working together to get out of Kirkwood and to the campsite (approximately 40 minutes away). Not only that, but we managed a have a wide variety of conversations in all that time ranging from where we’re from, what uni we’re at, to who’d be at the ANC rally we just stumbled upon.

After many a windy and dusty road we eventually found our way to the campsite but that's one for another time

Back to my hectic academic lifestyle

It has been a very wonderful learning experience to participate in the Future Journalist Programme (FJP) , however, I guess even the good things have to come to an end. As usual, life takes me back to the busy and routine academic lifestyle, not to mention the intense load of assignments awaiting me. I am actually asking myself why I don't seem to be pleased with the fact that I going back home to this academic lifestyle, because this programme itself was academic. I guess it is because it was academic in a more relaxed way and actually made me understand the importance of studying, especially towards a career in journalism.


Nevertheless, as relaxed as this programme was, it is a good thing that I am going back to home to share all the experiences and to use the knowledge that I have gained in my assignments at school. I am fully aware that my family and educators are waiting to see how this programme has contributed in my studies and I am eager to show them how much I have learnt within a couple of days. My objective is to appreciate Sim and Moagisi for compiling such an outstanding and intellectual programme by utilising the knowledge they have ingrained in me within my studies.

ARE YOU REALLY READY FOR TERTIARY?

Finally, it has come where one is done with teachers fussing over not handed in projects, having incomplete homework, arriving late for school, getting demerits for misconduct, having to attend detention and the ridiculous school uniforms some of us had to wear, it is all over. Even though high school was much of a bore there were also good times and highlights such as, having many friends, functions and fundraisers and most people’s favourite, the matric dance and the after party. This may be all good and gone but one has not really had the time to sit down and think to themselves “am I really ready for tertiary?”. Seeing your name in the newspaper, at the end of your matric year, one has a sigh of relief that they are officially done with school, but not knowing what lies ahead at tertiary.


There is stress built up on while looking for your “ideal” tertiary institution which best suits your needs and personality. Once you find the institution you want, you are quite amazed at what you find along the way, as there are many challenges that you never expected to see and get quite nervous and tense. University may build you up or break you down it all boils down to what you believe in and what type of people you associate yourself with and what type of goals and standards you have set for yourself to succeed.

Invitation for Knowledge

I remember telling my mother’s friends that I had been doing journalism at Rhodes- the first thing they said was,’ Haai, uyabonake wena, uyazazi ukuthi uzozenzani!”. They claimed that I knew what I had been doing and that half of the news would be translated by me. It is only when I started the Future Journalists Programme (FJP) that I noticed that my knowledge had to be thrown out or filtered completely so that it could create way for new ideas.
I can clearly remember the look on my colleagues faces when they arrived at the Rhodes journalism department. One of them, Onamandla, looked at me in awe and softly said,’ you guys seriously have it all.” But the truth is that we don’t.

Here at Rhodes University; we have completely taken our academic advantages for granted. We are given books and computers galore but still- we have so much to learn. The good thing about humbling yourself to education is that you open a new page for learning. It is the people who truly and painfully believe that they know everything that stop a generation of smart people from actually moving forward. There is nothing more dangerous or even poisonous than an individual who has closed off all learning. There is no invitation more important than that of knowledge.
It completely threw me off when I was told that this would be easy for me- simply because it was not.

I know for sure that we, as a group and not an individual, are going to be a better generation of media practitioners due to the mere fact that we found ourselves learning the same thing at the same place and time and those are the lessons which will make us stronger- forgetting what we came with.

The time has come..

I must say I am very sad that we are finally leaving the Future Journalists Programme. I have enjoyed myself to the extent that I even forgot about my own family and friends back at varsity. I so wish the days could be extended, not because I want to stay for the ‘nice’ food we had, but just for the people around me. You know they are such great people who are always funny at all times. We all lived in a peaceful atmosphere; there were no ‘cat’ fights, (only the girls who usually fight anyway, not us guys); we never judged each other, we all listened to each other’s opinions and we all treated each other equally.

Unity was the most important thing we could do. We’ve been through a lot of things, but the most amazing thing we survived was a storm. We all went to the shopping mall at night and by the time we were coming back, the clouds have gathered and it was starting to rain, thundering and lightning. I mean we were so terrified that we were going to be struck by the light and we thought our days of living were over, but eish! we made it back to our rooms safely. Just imagine how drippin’ wet we were!

Blogging again...

I can’t believe I’m doing this to myself again. After over three months in rehab, the feeling hasn’t changed. I’m getting excited at the thought of that first taste but I know I shouldn’t. It almost ruined me the last time. Blood-shot eyes, sweaty palms and the coffee stained breathe from restless nights of complete delusion. You wake up in the early hours of the morning and the first thing you do, the first thing you think about, is the last thing you were doing when your head hits the desk. Some days seem the longest, with your teeth clattering, biting your tongue, because you are longing for a fix. “Just give me five minutes dammit, that’s all I need”. Then voices start fighting in your head; one’s telling you, “you need to stop” while the other desperately screams “just do it”.
Then you finally give in. At first, typing in a frenzy because you want them to shut up. Soon it goes quiet and the world starts making sense again. You grab for your cold coffee. It’s going to be a long night but you’ve waited all day to do just this.
So BEWARE, blogging is so addictive.

What is your stance on the subject of objectivity?

by: Simphiwe Kanityi (Rhodes University)

Well, have written on why I have to take journalism, there has been a discussion in my class on the topic of objectivity. All I can say is that the argument went on and on each person giving his/her opinions based on what each person feels and believes is right. What I gathered from the argument though is that the statements we made showed that objectivity is difficulty to obtain, the reason why is because our arguments proved that some people are comfortable in knowing that their ideas are the best imposing an indirect motion that other people should align themselves with them.

Scholars have written so many articles on this topic as well, bloggers blogged on it and columnists also played their part, but all had not reached a common agreement on when and how to be objective. This alone, shows how unattainable objectivity is.

Now considering my previous article, there I have written that I am doing journalism because I want to change the world because of the power I possess to do so. Firstly, I want to get across that before writing my article I was clear on this subject of objectivity and the arguments thereof.

Defining objectivity is not so different from defining news. I believe “news” has derived from the word “new” referring to something that some one has not heard off yet. In this case I would draw from the words of Richard Taflinger where he says “After all, if news is that which is of interest to newspaper readers then the comics, the horoscope and the crossword puzzle are news, a conclusion with which few would agree”. The first decision to make is what is recent: today, yesterday, last week, five minutes ago, since the last news report? Someone, in journalism usually an editor, makes this decision, and thus that person's world determines what is recent.

From this I now know that starting from the first point of what to select as news might be considered as being subjective, but what happens when reporting on those news you have selected, can you be objective? The answer is NO! Why? A news report is a series of words describing the event. As in selecting which events are news, someone must decide which words best describe the event. These decisions are based on the reporter's world as he or she examines the facts gathered and decides what words those receiving the report will best understand. Now, to who is this person objective if he/she reports using his/her style?
Coming to conclusion, after reading Theodore L. Glasser’s article entitled ‘Objectivity and News Bias’ in Cohen, E.D. (ed). 1992. Philosophical Issues in Journalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, I feel more confident to say that my views stand still on what I said. I am doing journalism to change the world. I have got my own way of seeing things and my world view is not the same with other people’s world view. This gives me that extra energy that people out there are eagerly waiting for my opinions mixed with what is happening around them that they have not yet heard about.

I will not be biased or prejudice but I will be expressing my views and my world view in my own words and since I know that my world view is component of news, I will consciously minimize the impact of subjectivity. I will make sure that my world view does not dominate in gathering, preparing and disseminating the news, otherwise objectivity is a dream that we all would like to achieve and we keep on trying and hoping that it works out. Since objectivity has been argued so much even if it is not there people still think that the media is using it because their minds have been programmed into thinking like that. Again, this is my world view which is open to critics, but keep in mind that we will not see things the same way.

visit and comment on my other school blog on http://www.simphiwejmsradio.blogspot.com

How well are you educated to lead the nation?

By Simphiwe Kanityi



As I have been reading the comments by SASCO and YCL members based on Julias Malemas' matric results that has been going around lately. My research shows that the Department of Education confirmed that these are really the results of the ANC Youth League Leader.The Results are as follows:
Subjects Grade Symbol
Sepedi First Language H E
Afrikaans Second Language (I assume that this was on HG) E
English Second Language (I assume that this was on HG) C
Geography HG F
History SG D
Woodwork SG GG
Mathematics SG H

Now, the reason why these results have been circulating around is associated with his mental capabilities to be a leader. In many public talks Malema gave shocking statements and the most interesting answer that thrilled me to write this is the one he gave during the interview when "This little wanker, (born as recently as 1981) recently claimed in an interview that he had received military training back in 1994. When the interviewer did a quick mental sum and questioningly concluded that Juli-ass would have been a mere thirteen years old at the time, he oafishly shuffled his his feet, muttered "eish hau", rapidly blinked his close-set monkey eyes while intensely studying the gob of brown snot he'd just hauled out of one of his massively flaring simian nostrils and unceremoniously popped it onto his fleshy lower lip" Find this quote on http://zahell.blogspot.com/2008/10/all-hail-to-our-glorious-comrade.html
The first comment by one of SASCO read as follows "I would like to know why these results are sent arround?". If a child was by the door he was going to laugh hearing that at this stage there is some one who does not really know why do we need to know of these results.
Interestingly the second comment goes like this "I'm not sure. But, I can speculate, due to the effect this has had on me. It has helped put into perspective what comes out everytime he opens his mouth". Well, I think we all know why! If not I would suggest that you go back listen to all the speeches he delivered ever since he came to ANC Youth Leadership. If you ever worked in a group of people who are not good in communicating you group ideas and unfortunately have these people to represent the group. You sometimes feel like hiding somewhere when they are about to talk because you know that every word from their mouth destroys. In a nutshell, the same has been the case with MALEMA.

A very nice comment which is my last one here goes like " When you raise an issue at that level and nothing is done about it what is a person to? Go public and then only then are you taken seriously. People should be allowed to disagree with the party inside and outside the closed doors. The ruling party wants to turn itself into some sort of Stalin where people are not allowed to criticise them and when they do, they are purged - this is rediculous. I'm glad that the youth (us) are engaging on these issues because as ***** says, this country is our future and these old people are beginning to forget what they fought for for so long, maybe we need to remind them, batsofala clearly. With regards to Julius's results, I also wouldn't surprised if they were real - he has no respect. Its very unAfrican for a boy barely 30 to say the things he has been saying in public about people much older and more established than him"

Well now you know why, what do you have to say? Is education important for being in a leadership position? Maybe! bear in mind that, I have never seen a fight in South Africa for a very long time, then if you claim that education is not important but power maybe, where are you going to use that power. I think mental power would work well because the fight is of verbal kind not weapons. Unfortunately, it is not yet a time to kill, so MALEMA is not on time, I even doubt that he would succeed even in a war as a military trained soldier (as he claims to be). If really he could not do well in woodwork can a military work be that easy as he think it is.

In a case where you will be talking to the public you mental capabilities count. Some people just laugh when people who are educated than Malema say terrible things in public but when it comes to him everything must not be taken into considerations, since when? The country that has been hardly fought for? Kill? Mandela, the one who suffered the consequences never said that, he calmed down those who tried it and they listened because "RESPECT" is what they were taught not "KILL".

Looking at the main issues facing young people today the least he could mention were the obvious, HIV/AIDS, lack of jobs, poverty! We have been hearing of these ever since we were born, aren't there other challenges he could be dealing with. Maybe he is skilled enough to shoot and kill HIV/AIDS and lately eliminate poverty!If he can try that first maybe he can be granted a go ahead in killing Lekota and Shilowa.

You can have your say on this, but if this is what meant by the saying that goes like "young people are the future" I would assure you that future is frightening and ugly, if that is the case I rather stay to the present and not more into the future not unless we kidnap Malema and send him back to grade 12 again, maybe he will cope with this sickening education system we having at present, but he will have to start from Grade 9 - oh shame! poor MALEMASLIMA.He at least got to Matric, Mr. Zuma didn't.

Don't get me wrong here, I'm not arguing that to be a leader one must obtain the highest education, I lead while at high school and I was good. I mean when your leadership is unsatisfactory every aspect needs to be considered. All avenues have been exhausted, I wanted to believe that he only got the training but not a time to shoot while receiving military training, therefore, hungry to pull the trigger, to my amazement he is more skillful in spear - now the education sphere makes lot of sense as to why he acts like that. We are living in SA not ANC. God bless him shame! if education couldn't change his mind to view things in other ways God will definitely change him. Please Julias if you came across this article read Romans 12 verse 2 for your mental goodness and capabilities (Tell Pastor JZ to help you with this he knows the scripture very well. I lastly heard him quoting the scripture when he was saying that "love thy short skirted neighbour). Anyway God loves you Malema but you have to work on your stewardshipness...

Celebrating South African Talent: The quiet Violence of Dreams

By: Nqobile Buthelezi

As the trio walked into Dulce's Cafe on High Street, their electric ambiance filled the room. Director, Neville Engelbrecht (right), Actress, Lebo Mashile (center) and Playwright, Ashraf Johaardien (left)were more than happy to give a minute from their busy schedule and share the reason for their visit to Grahamstown.

Mashile, Engelbrecht and Johaardien were at the 2008 National Arts Festival for the debut of their play, The Quiet Violence of Dreams, which is an adaptation of the book (entitle so) by the celebrated late South African writer, Sello Duiker.

Paying tribute Duiker's acclaimed novel, Johaardien emphasised that the script adaptation remains true to Duiker's original work. "It was a challenge to unpack Sello's mind to script as the narratives are woven into each other, that nonlinearity capturing the complexities of our lives today" said Johaardien.

Duiker's novel deals with sensitive issues in post apartheid South Africa with an emphasis on homosexuality, ascending black middle class and love. So intense is Duiker's engagement with these relavant issues that Engelbrecht had to consider the responsiveness of the audience when decoding the meanings in the play. " Mine was a challenge of extracting these issues from a page to public space and allowing the audience to channel the issues represented in the play into their own lives and recognise who they are in the system, without creating a space for condemnation" said Engelbrecht.

Mashile, who plays Mmabatho, the only female character, felt at home with the cast. "They're all exceedingly warm, there was instant chemistry and a special ensemble we remain." On social complications addressed, she emphasised the importance of engagement in terms of openly speaking about such issues that affect societies. "We live in a hypocritical society, dealing with spirituality, class, recently xenophobia and interracial relationships; so this play is bound to make a stir in society." Mashile finds comfort in her role as she relates to the character's self and obstacles. "Mmabatho is powerful, well educated and faces hardships with love and a friend who suffers a mental breakdown. Yet similar to me, she becomes anchored and self assured" said Mashile.

The production's strength is its star cast, namely; Antonio Lyons, Jacques Bessenger, Duke Motlanthe, Garth Collins and Elton Landrew. "In those moments of deep emotion, we offer each other a good sense of parenting, as they say; there is beauty in vulnerability" said Johaardien,

Making it's debut in this year's festival, The Quiet Violence of Dreams is a must watch. Beautifully executed, the audience connects with the issues at hand and their relevance is society. Speaking of aspirations, both the director and cast had confidence for a success at the festival and beyond.

Leave Peter alone. . . . please

by Kobus Pretorius (CPUT)

There’s been a lot of debate recently about Peter de Villiers team to play the All Blacks in the Tri-Nations opener. Some have argued that De Villiers has failed to select his best possible XV in order to beat New Zealand at home for the first time in a decade.

Generally people seem to be pretty happy with the forwards although there has been surprise at the inclusion of Joe van Niekerk above Pierre Spies and Ryan Kankowski.
I don’t understand why Van Niekerk’s selection has been a surprise. He had a good Super14, played very well when given a chance against Italy and has something like 47 caps.

Compare that to Spies who only played a handful of matches in the regional tournament, was ordinary against Wales and seems to stay in front of the pecking order even though he’s form has been pretty average.

Last but definitely not least is Ryan Kankowski. Kanko had a brilliant Super14 but unfortunately got injured in the Italy game. After seeing that knock he took it’s perplexing to think that he was considered for selection ahead of the Kiwi clash.

Apparently he didn’t suffer a concussion after being stretchered off the field but one would think that he should sit out this all important game. So when considering all this, the selection of Big Joe was really a no-brainer.

Now let’s move on to the backs. Ricky Januarie and Buth James pick themselves along with Jean de Villiers at inside centre. Adrian Jacobs’ selection isn’t a surprise either because he’s been backed all season by coach De Viliers and there was no indication that he would be replaced ahead of the Southern Hemisphere showpiece.

On the wing Bryan Habana picks himself even though he hasn’t scored a try since the semi-finals of the World Cup last year. Akona Ndungane’s inclusion, however, is a surprise seeing that he only made his debut two weeks ago against Italy. JP Petersen shouldn’t be an option either because he also is out of form and low on confidence.

What maybe should’ve happened was to move Conrad Jantjies to the wing to accommodate the experience of Percy Montgomery at fullback. Picking Jantjies ahead of Monty should not have happened because even though he has done nothing wrong to be axed, he has played on the wing before.

Add his prodigious boot to the mix and the Boks would’ve had a potent back three, especially in the wet conditions expected in Wellington. Frans Steyn was never an option to play wing because I don’t think we will ever see a white player starting at wing ever again. Besides, with Petersen and Ndungane there, De Villiers wouldn’t have been able to justify Steyn’s selection on the wing.

The bench looks strong with Luke Watson the right option as the replacement loose forward because he can cover both blindside flank as well as eight man, making sure that South Africa never lose their effectiveness at the breakdown.

In the end one of two things will happen. Either the Springboks will beat the All Blacks in New Zealand for the first time in ten years and thereby justify De Villiers’s selection policy. Or the Boks will lose and the coach will be wiser for the experience as it will open his eyes with regards to certain selections.

FJP At the National Arts Festival 2008

The Future Journalists Programme is at the 2008 National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa.

See our festival coverage and latest stories on our other blog:
http://fjp08.wordpress.com.

REVIEW: Composition Z: The House of Stone

By: Nqobile Buthelezi

IMAGINE... for a moment, a woman whose face looks like a grotesque mask, emerging from the bushes, chanting something that no human language under the sun can make out. She is drapped in torn and dirty clothes. Her song awakens a spirit, an energy that moves somewhere between her and the audience, exerting a cold aura that keeps the ampitheatre chilled. The scene is like enchanted magic!

Composition Z: The house of Stone, enigmatic as it sounds, is an exhilirating production that takes one to a fantastical world where dreams are reality and the essense of reality itself questioned. This play certainly keeps audiences at the edge of their sit, tying to find meaning as they connect to the magical creatures that inhibit the realm.

With its layered complexities, Composition Z is a niche genre of theatre that combines the elements of drama, physical performance and visual imagery. A blend of three characters from different cultural folklores sees the the play resurrect magical beings and a hypnothising act that is certainly one of its kind. Extracted from a Venda folktale, Zwidutwane is a water spirit inhibiting the Phiphidi Falls in Limpopo. Alongside Nai Nai of Eeinaa and Dombo, which are both influencial female protaagonists in the play, the three characters are in constant search for validation and affirmation. Their fate entertwined, they feed into each other's aura becoming one in the eternal struggle to find identity. This characters surely represent those souls who feel lost, watching time pass them by. Intricate use of voice over storytelling and rythmic physical theatre elevate ones senses, weaving deeper the metaphorical representation of the constant batte humankind faces in everyday living.

Emerging writer, director and actor, Awelani Moyo, attained her BA Honours Degree in Directing, Creative Writing (under Reza De Wet) and Acting at Rhodes University. Currently doing her coursework Masters in Contemporary Perfomance, the young Zimbabwean is set to fly high in the industry as she collaborates with leading theatre practitioners.In Composition Z, Moyo represents well the issues of vulnerability, difference, socio-political status of Zim, conflict of identity and ultimately how mankind derive meaning from what they see and hear in their surroundings, most noticeably in situations of displacement.

On the Tittle:
The tittle misleads one to think of a musical theatre piece. More along the lines of Beathovan or Mozart type classical acts. However, Moyo, through her excellent tittle intentionally twists and entices our minds, the every act entwined with the craze in the tale itself. 'Composition Z' may be a derivative for all the meanings, conspiracies we contrive and conceptualise in our minds, trying to find an answer to destiny. We compose possible explanations for our current situations and our possible end. "The House of Stone" perhaps infers to humanity's numbed reaction towards issues that have affected our world, its people, deteriorationg the very essense of Ubuntu, we have come to learn.

Malema and Vavi to die for Zuma

To some extent I understand Julius Malema's and Zwelinzima Vavi's statement regarding the ANC leader Jacob Zuma.Their statement tells me one thing,Zuma is a charasmatic,infuencial and beloved leader.

As far as I see it, they(Vavi and Malema) have not said anything new, they are simply echoing what our potential president has always said,khawulethu mshini wam(bring my machine gun).The only difference with Malema and Vavi's statement is that they are specific about what they will do with their "machine gun".Zuma must be a very happy man, infact I would like to add that he is a very lucky man.

To have two leaders of the country's biggest union and the ruling parties political youth wing willing to put their lives down for you is flattering.I can imagine what the conversation was last weekend at some boere braais around the country, "I was right,those ANC people are terrorists.Sadly for Zuma he wont't be getting any Afrikaner vote until he stands up and condems what Malema and Vavi have said.

Do not get me wrong when I say I understand their statement,I am by no means saying I support it.I understand it but I do not condone it!There is one question on my mind though, will they be sending out youth militia to intimidate anyone who does not support Zuma like Zanu PF is doing to anyone anti Mugabe.Are they to be labelled martyrs or terrorists.

I hope their statement stays just that, a statement or threat,if not, then the predictions of many post apartheid emigrants are at hand - "This country is going to end up like Kenya,Zimbabwe or any former colonial African country!God forbid!

The Standard of Journalism education in South Africa

The Standard of Journalism education in South Africa.

By.Mduduzi Justice Nyalunga (Highway Africa, FJP participant @University of Zululand.

Indeed, the standard of Journalism education in South Africa is developing in each and every year to a high level. Our writers and reporters are getting better. Many South African Universities teach journalism in different ways although, they have the similar idea of producing quality and awards winning journalists who will have the power to influence the public through their good writing and broadcasting skills. It is very significant to look at different aspects when discussing the standard of journalism education in South Africa.

Rich Universities like Rhodes teach journalism at a very high level. At this University they have all the basic journalism resources that Journalism students need in order to have enough knowledge about the different aspects of Journalism. At Rhodes University they also help their Journalism Students by forming partnerships with well known organisations such a High way Africa, an organisation that invites a number of great journalists across the African continent to come down to South Africa and help them with skills and more knowledge about Journalism, by doing so I believe that the University is helping to develop the Standard of Journalism in South Africa. They have also established a new programme called (FJP) Future Journalists Programme in order to help students from different Universities and from all sorts of backgrounds to acquire more valuable skills and knowledge in the field of Journalism by giving them more journalism trainings. Therefore Rhodes Journalism graduates are highly skilled and able to work in any fields of Journalim.Even myself being part of the High way Africa, FJP at Rhodes has helped me to learn to communicate, solve problems and think critical and analytical as a communication Science student. In my own opinion I do appreciate the progress of Journalism education in South Africa at this time.

Now as we are moving into a new century with rapidly changing head of governments, economies, and social issues. Where is journalism education in this mix? Is journalism education ahead of the citizenry or behind what citizens will need to know to make critical social, political and economic decisions for our world? Some journalism educators at South African Universities provided me with their opinions on how they see journalism education in South Africa, the United States of America, Slovenia and India. Most of them argue that journalism education in South Africa is education for democracy.

They also say journalism is a more or less independent field of study across South Africa and world-wide, yet the education and training of journalists is a subject much debated but only rarely researched. As a point of departure it is assumed that although media systems and journalistic cultures may differ widely, the changes and challenges facing journalism education around the world are largely similar. I am impressed with the fact that South African journalism is growing and many journalists are being re-warded for putting more efforts to their work.

Arts Festival- Gotta be There

Nqobile Buthelezi (UKZN)

The hip and the happenin will be gathered at grahamstown as from the 26th of June for the National Arts Festival. For those of us who are all for arts, it will truly be heaven. It's time to showcase the hottest talent in the country. Self expression is the latest fashion and for those who are still rigid, its time they move with the times. In the olden days, the 'arts' seemed an irrelevant field, undermined and severely under-payed. However, it is comforting to see our world recognising those with the 'rare' talents beyond maths, accounting, stats or health.

We now live in a world where we have to constantly make known what we feel, either through talking (spoken word, poetry) or through action (drama, dance) or with a splash of paint. Though, to change sceptics, this 'artistic' change is unnecessary, I say; if our world was allowed to shout more, talk more, and do more of soul searching, there would be less of killing, beating, raping and cursing. Think about it. We live in a changed world where everything that mattered doesn't anymore and everything that was of no essence is the center of our world. So, South Africa- get down to Grahamstown for a mind blowing experience... I know I'll be there!!!