Justin Pearce Those who’ve been worried about a return to PW Botha- era broadcasting can sleep peacefully once more. The government’s request for airtime on SABC radio and television is unlikely to get past the SABC board when it comes up for discussion next Wednesday. Although the matter has not yet been formally presented to […]
The upcoming season of labour protests will make or break the labour movement, argues Eddie Koch DO or die. That’s how a union shopsteward this week explained The Congress of South African Trade Unions’ decision to stage a 1980s-style programme of mass action around the Labour Relations Amendment Bill. Although unintended, his statement may just […]
ANC MP kicks dust in the faces of those who want to stop the Saldanha steel mill, reports Rehana Rossouw African National Congress MP Jenny Schreiner this week hit out at “arrogant” conservationists for trying to stop Iscor from building a steel mill in the environmentally sensitive Langebaan lagoon area at Her broadside came as […]
Barbara Ludman EIGHTY percent of black South Africans and about 40 percent of whites cannot read or compute at a Standard Five level, according to a report released this week. In the first-ever nationwide study of literacy, Indian respondents showed the highest average literacy levels. Coloured participants scored, on average, between black and white literacy […]
Bafana Khumalo With all the bitching about English as she is spoken on SAfm, wait till you hear the Voice of Soweto. It’s promising not to broadcast the queen’s English when the station comes on the air in spring. But in a spirit of reconciliation, the Voice promises not to slam the phone down on […]
This week marks the 10th anniversary of the unsolved assassination of Matthew Goniwe and his three Cradock comrades. Jonathan Ancer visited Goniwe’s home town Among the simple graves and the old, weathered headstones one polished tombstone looms large in the Lingelihle Cemetery. It stands watch over the remains and memories of Matthew Goniwe, Fort Calata, […]
Mike Loewe For Glenn van Loggerenberg, the earnest and upbeat station manager of Rhodes Music Radio, the angry old days of confrontation are an anathema. The new language, he insists, is sweet, slick music — much like the stuff that is coming through the walls as we Underneath the baggy pants and flowing jersey lurks […]
Justin Pearce Aspirant community radio broadcasters are furious with the Independent Broadcating Authority (IBA) for apparently favouring religious evangelists and rightwingers in the granting of licences. The loudest objections come from organisations trying to set up stations aimed at black communities, who feel sidelined both by the IBA’s manner of operating, and in its choice […]
Stefaans Brummer FRESH evidence of South African arms fuelling civil wars in the killing fields of Rwanda, former Yugoslavia and Angola is threatening to eclipse the long-awaited findings the Cameron Commission is about to present to President Nelson Mandela. The report Judge Edwin Cameron, appointed last year to investigate irregular arms deals since 1990, is […]
Both the pro-life and pro-choice viewpoints were forcefully expressed as the abortion issue was discussed in parliament, writes Rehana Rossouw IT’S BEEN a brutal time for the parliamentary committee listening to public submissions on the abortion issue. Over the past two weeks pro-lifers have assaulted them with bottled foetuses and gory slide shows of abortions […]