AZAPO Takes Election Campaign To Streets of Kliptown

Sthembiso Sithole

Residents of the ANC run informal settlement complain of such toilets.

AZAPO has told Kliptown residents that their vote on the May 18 municipal elections should be a protest against the current leaders in their community.

The party promises to improve the poor service delivery by increasing job opportunities and providing adequate houses with running water and electricity. Kliptown, Soweto, is a squatter camp where many residents have complained of a lack of service delivery and inadequate housing without proper sanitation and electricity. On Freedom Day, 27 April, AZAPO leaders went on a campaign in the area.

First Time Voter Believes Political Party Promises Not Achievable

Sthembiso Sithole

Agriculture minister, Tina Joemat-Petterson
faced a tough crowd over the weekend.
Photo: http://www.mg.co.za/

South Africans are going to vote for their municipal leaders on May 18 and as usual around election time political parties are out in full force mobilising people to vote for them on the day. I qualify to vote for the first time this year and I must make my choices carefully so I have conducted my own research.

Adequate housing, running water and sanitation are always at the top of the agenda for the poor and promises to improve these are often made by those running to be elected.

Ahead of the elections South Africans have seen newspaper headlines such as: ‘SA’s poor fed up with waiting for houses services’ coupled with the wave of protests have been seen and heard from the media sources. In the Northern Cape one community walked out of a speech by agriculture minister, Tina Joemat-Pettersson, with residents saying they are tired of being spoken down to and thought this was their chance to have a conversation with the ANC minister.

National Press Club Supports SABC On Showing Police Brutality in Ficksburg

Media Statement By National Press Club

Visuals of police beating-up Ficksburg teacher,
Andries Tatane, shown on SABC1.

The National Press Club has come out in support of SABC TV News for screening footage of police attacking a protestor in Ficksburg in the Free State this week, that allegedly led to his death.

The SABC has been criticised by some for showing the “gruesome” material.

Club chairman Yusuf Abramjee congratulated the national broadcaster “for being bold, balanced and fair on this issue.

Bus Fare Not Affordable for the Poor

Paseka Menyau

Bus communters in Pretoria’s Soshanguve Township are not happy with the recent bus fare increase which they say they were never consulted about.

The Putco Bus Company raised fares by eight percent on 03 April 2011 as a result of the recent fuel price increase in South Africa. Meeting in the township's Block TT commuters, most of whom earn working class salaries, say much of their money goes towards transport.

Community Theatre at the Breytie

Ntombi: Produced by Thabiso Sihlali & Pumla Luthuli

After White Lies I Have to Regain my Boss' Trust in Internship

Ntokozo Mahlangu

White lies – we all tell them and we often tell ourselves that they are harmless whenever they are uttered. Is there such a thing as white lies though? It’s a question I am asking myself after a recent episode that has landed me into some deep, hot water. I often have to find ice-cubes at work to cool off the water just a little bit. Here is my story.

I am in a taxi, 40 minutes away from work when I receive a call from a colleague asking me how far I am from the venue we are to hold a meeting in. I proudly say I am five minutes away from the building. I don’t think of any problems this might cause as I will think of another story to tell should he call again. At this stage he must have been calling for what seemed to have been the tenth time – the first phone call came when I was fast asleep and it’s the call that woke me up.

Life Through the Shattered Glass of a Beer Bottle: Produced By Pearl Nicodemus & Davaksha Vallabhjee

It's Been a Week Since Intersexions Ended on SABC1 - These are Just Some Characters We Now Know Really Well



City boy charms rural girls



Best friends get raped in jail.



Married Couple trying to figure out life.

HIV positive woman gives mother a few life lessons.

Behind bars and raping men for fun.



Students Voice Opinions on Minister's Indigenous Language Idea

Sthembiso Sithole

Higher Education Minister, Dr Blade Nzimande, still needs
to listen to other opinions before announcing a final
decision on indigenouts languages.

The debate on whether students should learn indigenous African languages as proposed by Higher Education Minister, Dr Blade Nzimande, is intensifying in South Africa. Last week at the launch of the New Strategic Planning Framework for Teacher Education in Pretoria Nzimande said he would take it upon himself to make the matter a special ministerial project to ensure that teaching and expansion of Africa languages was strengthened. He announced that he feels it’s important for all students to learn an African language in order to get a university qualification.

The Sowetan has reported that Freedom Front Plus General Secretary Piet Uys says he is concerned about the loss of certain languages. “Our issue with the whole (language) situation since 1993 is that we are going to lose Afrikaans universities.”

Students from various South African universities have differing opinions on the minister’s proposal.

Cape Town's Big Spenders About to Learn a Huge Rugby Lesson in Pretoria

William Tshabalala



It will be money vs brilliance as UCT faces TUKS in Pretoria.
Photo: http://www.varsitycup.co.za/

 The age old rivalry between the north and the south continues today at the FNB TUKS stadium from 18:30 this evening when The University of Pretoria hosts the University of Cape Town in the Varsity Cup rugby tournament final. For 80 minutes we can expect a few bruises as time will stand still in a RUGBY THAT ROCKS competition that has reached its much anticipated climax.


The favourites t o win the battle are without a doubt are the men from Cape Town, who have been in every final since the series kicked off three years ago. On the other hand the lads from Pretoria who qualified are in the final for first time should not be written off as tonight’s match is played on home soil.

Kliptown Residents Feel Neglected Over Decade and a Half Into Democracy

Sthembiso Sithole

As local government elections approach thousands in Kliptown, Soweto, say they are confused on what they will be voting for as they are still receiving no services and their shacks are without electricity.

Some residents say they have registered to vote and have voted in the past, but are now weighing up their options almost 17 years into South Africa’s democracy. They feel the leaders they have voted into power have done nothing to improve their situation.

Vodacom Turns Red But Confused on How it Benefits Consumers

Kgothatso Madisa

The before and after of Johannesburg's Ponte building.

Vodacom is red; the South African mobile phone network operator is not letting us forget that as we are reminded at about every commercial break we see on television. They have brought back characters from previous advertisements to show that blue is no longer in. I like red and Vodacom says the change has taken place throughout all its operations across Africa.

There are billboards on major roads and highways and frankly I believe that some will cause accidents as they are loud and force people to slow down and read. As one approaches Johannesburg from Pretoria they would first pass the headquarters, Vodaworld, which has massive red billboards despite their failure to change the colours on satellite dishes. Then the massive change to the Johannesburg skyline appears as the Vodacom sign on the Ponte building now has red neon lights rather than the previous blue. Are they even allowed to change the skyline of Africa’s wealthiest city?!

Intersexions a Brilliant Show but Left Out Some Important Facts

Zanele Ngwenyama
@zanelengwenyama


Top notch corporate blames HIV negative wife for possibly
infecting him after her ex dies of AIDS.

 As I waited anxiously for the grand finale of Intersexions last night, I wrapped myself in a blanket and held tightly to a cup of tea for a bit of warmth. I was amazed by the sexy voice that opened the scenes. I thought to myself uhhmm who might that be? What a lovely voice in this cold and my imagination went wild. As the scenes played he said “I’m your friend HIV” which really put a damper on things and crushed my fantasies! Ok it was just a narration so I decided to concentrate to learn a few things.

Married taxi driver has girlfriends and children all over town.

From the day the series came on our screens, many were glued to their TV sets and debates followed after each and every episode. I must confess I take my hat off to the team behind the series as they did a great job. We live in a society ignorant about HIV/AIDS - not because there isn’t much awareness but because we are afraid of the stigma attached to the virus. Intersexions couldn’t have come at a better time to make us think again.

Social media forums would fill up with messages from people who would be freaked out by what they would have seen on television and debates would continue until the following episode. The whole country was in shock!

Young Mother Learning to Juggle Between Internship and Family

Boitumelo Ramarwane

The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is the biggest broadcaster on the African continent and many young students of media and journalism in South Africa dream of working for the broadcaster. You can imagine how happy I was to get a call from them telling me that I had been shortlisted for an internship.

The SABC has gone through a few financial problems in the past two to three years and many thought the national broadcaster would not be taking any new people. In the past few years the SABC re-launched SABC Africa as SABC News International, lost the DSTV platform which would allow them access to viewers across the African continent and eventually shutting down the channel and didn’t renew contracts of much of the company’s staff. After that gloomy news no student of journalism would have thought they would be considered for an internship there.