!Xu-Kwe Radio is a first in Southern Africa a station that caters exclusively for two San communities, in their own languages
Jubie Matlou
Nine-year-old Willem Kovia narrated the origins of a fall-out between a bear and wolf on the one hand, and a rabbit on the other, that resulted in the latter becoming a target of prey for the former to this very day.
Ironically, the rabbit was the belligerent party, and triggered the fall-out by hitting the wolf on its back with a stone while it was walking in the bush with the bear. The two gave chase, but fortunately the rabbit escaped unscathed.
Willem told this story on the !Xu-Kwe radio (X-K FM) station two weeks ago to mark International Children’s Day.
It was a first for the partially blind boy from the Khwe community in Schmidtsdrif, in the Northern Cape, to visit a radio broadcasting studio and speak over the microphone. His choice of topic for that day is oblivious of his plight: a displaced child of the civil and liberation war that had plagued Angola and Namibia in the past two decades.
Kovia knows very little about the origins or the predicament of his family and community the !Xu and Khwe clans of the San people. He was born in Schmidtsdrif, a transit camp set up by the former South African Defence Force to accommodate the families of the San soldiers who served against Swapo during the liberation war.
The San soldiers who fought on the side of the South Africans were not welcome in independent Namibia, and the then apartheid government opted to relocate them and their families to Schmidtsdrif and housed them in army tents.
X-K FM is the first of its kind in Southern Africa, a radio station that caters exclusively for the two San communities in their own languages !Xu and Khwe. Otherwise, the marginalised community uses Afrikaans as its lingua franca, and has been tuning to the SABC’s Radio Sonder Grense (RSG), since moving to its new home 10 years ago.
Kovia relishes the idea that he spoke on radio. “It was fun, I liked it. Many of my friends came afterwards to congratulate me for the story I told over the radio,” he said shyly in an interpreted interview.
X-K FM broadcasts for seven hours daily. However, the three-month-old radio station still has to develop programmes for children. At the moment the station carries a variety of programmes about the history of the two groups, community news, health, education and actuality programmes. Kwaito, rap, house, as well as R&B music dominate the airwaves, and are very popular with the youth. During “dead time” the station carries live feed from RSG Radio.
The new station is an SABC initiative. Zamambo Mkhize, the SABC’s public service radio general manager, said the issue of meeting the public’s diverse language needs is central to the corporation’s public service broadcasting mandate.
“It is in this light that the SABC thought it appropriate to establish a radio station for the San communities in Schmidtsdrif. The station will bring the plight of the San community to the attention of the broader society, and contribute to the development and maintenance of that community’s cultural and language heritage,” Mkhize said.
The station is housed in three converted and air-conditioned steel shipping containers that provide office and studio accommodation. It also boasts a computerised programming system. Mkhize explained that the SABC opted for the containers because the station will also relocate with the community to a farm outside Kimberley in the next year or so.
Mkhize hinted that once the station assumed a full-day programme schedule, prospects of sponsorship would open up. “At the moment the station is funded through the cross subsidisation system, through revenue generated by the corporation’s commercial services”, she said.
Two producers, one technical and the other experienced in programming, were seconded from the corporation’s Kimberley office to train people drawn from the community. Technical producer Owen Kock has been taking four trainee presenters through the routine of driving a radio studio desk since March, five months before the station was officially launched in August.
“The four presenters we have are good, and I believe they can be better. We have scheduled some more training in January, and I think by the end of February they should be able to run the studio on their own,” said Kock.
Angolan born and bred Dreza Dala, an unemployed !Xu mother of five, said she was grateful about X-K FM. “For the first time our people have a radio station that broadcasts in our language. The station is addressing various issues affecting us, such as alcohol abuse and health matters.” X-K FM was also instrumental in providing voter education in the run-up to the local government elections held in the past two weeks.
Petrus Manu, a Khwe from West Caprivi in Namibia and a facilitator for the camp’s adult literacy project, said he was looking forward to developing a working relationship with the radio station.
“When the station’s broadcasting hours are extended, it will give room for the broadcast of other aspects of community needs such as adult literacy programmes. At the moment, the morning broadcasts coincide with the times for school lessons, and by the time all the children come back from school broadcasts for the day have ceased. We need programmes that target children and the youth. Half-a-day broadcasts are not enough.”
Manu appreciates that the radio station initiative is more than just symbolic to his community. “Our people in Namibia, Angola and Zambia are marginalised, with very little access to public amenities. Looking at our living conditions in the camp, it’s unthinkable that today we would be having a radio station of our own.”
As for the four male station presenters, an opportunity behind a mic is a fulfilled dream for the aspiring youngsters. They have assumed airwaves names such as Papa Joe and Choco in line with DJ trends. Angolan-born !Xu presenter Joe Mpungo and Namibian born Khwe, Riano Nduve, are in charge of the early-morning drive show that covers community news and local announcements. Nduve is ambitious about X-K FM: “I would like to see the station competing on par with the more established radio stations in the country.”