OS_0903_01-16_FullEdition3-WEB

SOCIAL MEDIA from the MARGINS to the MAINSTREAM
GRAHAMSTOWN SOUTH AFRICA 7 - 8 SEPTEMBER 2014
OPEN SOURCE
9 SEPTEMBER 2014
EDITION 3
COVERING THE HIGHWAY AFRICA CONFERENCE
highwayafrica.com // facebook.com/pages/Highway-Africa // @Highway_Africa // highwayafricaos.wordpress.com
03 10 11 16
Keynote address by Thabiso Hlongwane Harry Dugmore on health journalism
Songezo Zibi launches new book
FJP students reflect
The seven Fellows hold their trophies and gifts, sponsored by Telkom, in acknowledgment of their long years of service to Highway Africa during the Telkom Awards Ceremony last night. They are from left: Joe Alfers,
Mathatha Tsedu, Cheriff Moumina Sy, Adam Clayton Powell III, Elizabeth Barratt, Jovial Rantao and Amina Frense. Photo: Alexa Sedgwick
New award introduced at
2014 Telkom gala dinner
Rebecca Karlović
This year’s Telkom awards were described
as “deviating from the norm” by master
of ceremonies, Peter Ndovu, as he
introduced a new award for outstanding service
and contribution to Highway Africa.
A total of seven individuals were awarded the
title of Highway Africa Fellow at the beginning
of the ceremony for: “Selfless contribution to
the vision and loyalty to the conference and
behaving as a brand ambassador for Highway
Africa”.
Amina Frense, Elizabeth Barratt, Adam Clayton
Powell III, Jovial Rantao, Cheriff Moumina Sy,
Mathatha Tsedu and Joe Alfers were chosen
by the steering committee as exemplary in
these areas.
The youth of South African journalism were
then given the chance to display what they had
learnt over the Future Journalism Programme
(FJP) course this weekend as they played a
video showing their time spent together. “I’m
worried about my job now,” Ndovu joked as the
FJP students received their certificates from Prof
Larry Strelitz and Prof Anthea Garman, from the
Rhodes University School of Journalism and
Media Studies.
Lize McCourt, Chief Operating Officer for
the Department of Environmental Affairs, took
to the stage and relayed a special message
for journalists, young and old. She encouraged
them to use social media to tackle serious social
issues which affect all of us. McCourt spoke
specifically to the issue of rhino poaching and
how certain campaigns and discussions could be
initiated by everyone in the room by acting as an
online collective.
The ceremony also focused on a particular
project run by the US Embassy in Zimbabwe
that focuses on giving women journalists a
chance to sharpen their skills and work towards
a non-gendered media future. Karren Kelley,
Counsellor for Public Affairs at the US Embassy
in Zimbabwe, was present to award women who
had participated in the programme.
Acting Vice-Chancellor of Rhodes University,
Dr Sizwe Mabizela, proceeded to heartedly thank
the various speakers for attending and giving
the audience pertinent topics to think about. It
was finally time to “party all night” at the Telkom
dinner: something Ndovu promised would come
in celebration of the ceremony and those who
received awards.
A total of seven
individuals were
awarded the
title of Highway
Africa Fellow at
the beginning of
the ceremony for:
“Selfless contribution
to the vision and
loyalty to the
conference and
behaving as a brand
ambassador for
Highway Africa”.

OPEN SOURCE EDITION 3 9 SEPTEMBER 2014
OPEN SOURCE EDITION 3 9 SEPTEMBER 2014
Tshwane developed through people
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Call 10213 Click telkom.co.za Dial *120*8686# to find a store
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City of Tshwane’s Director of Strategy Coordination Thabiso Hlongwane, addresses
delegates on The Communication Challenges of Repositioning and Rebranding of a
City: some questions on Tshwane. Photo: Alexa Sedgwick
Kristen Birch
Thabisa Hlongwane, Director
of Strategy Coordination and
Stakeholder Liaison, began
his address on The Communication
Challenges of Repositioning the
City of Tshwane by stating that the
primary purpose of his appearance
was not his message, but rather
needed the voices of the delegates.
“We’d like to benefit from your
insights,” he said.
“So why 2055” – the question
everyone had been waiting for.
“2055 will be 100 years since the
adoption of the Freedom Charter
which was in 1955 and it will
mark 200 years from establishing
Pretoria as the capital for the
ZuidAfrikaansche Republiek in
1855,” Hlongwane said. “It will be
the city’s 200 th birthday.”
Locating the 2055 vision in
the National Development Plan,
Hlongwane said the government
document was the blueprint for
the development of Tshwane.
“It captures the challenges of
corruption and infrastructure, but
we as a city need to make our
contribution to address the issues,”
he explained.
Hlongwane showed a drawing
that a grade five pupil had made,
which encapsulated the child’s
vision for the city. “We want even
the children to be involved and
these drawings show their insights,”
he said. “The key to this project is
that the people shall govern the city
and we really want the residents to
be partners in this development.”
Social media has been the key
platform for communicating the
city’s plans and ideas. “This has
been the place to conceptualise our
vision locally and cross-country,”
Hlongwane said. The city has made
Wi-Fi freely available in order to
encourage community interaction
regarding development initiatives.
Hlongwane cited the Ebola
outbreak as an example of an
unforeseen issue that cities will
have to bounce back from.
“In 2055, the City of Tshwane
is liveable, resilient and inclusive
where citizens enjoy a high quality
of life, have access to social,
economic and enhanced political
freedoms and where citizens are
partners in the development of the
African Capital City of
Excellence,” he said.
In reference to the eradication
Q&A with Dr Nomalanga Mkhize
of colonial and apartheid symbols,
Tshwane’s reform agenda aims for
“spatial justice, sustainability, quality
and efficiency”. But one of the prime
outcomes of the development is
for the City of Tshwane to become
South Africa’s capital city.
“We are in a situation of split
capital – Cape Town is the host
of legislature, Bloemfontein the
Judiciary capital, and Pretoria
the administrative capital – the
journey of reposition is anchored on
Tshwane being the only capital city,”
Hlongwane said.
The focus then turned over to the
delegates to pose their questions.
One delegate asked Hlongwane
whether this was a vision of the city
or a political vision.
“That is a tough question, but
when the vision was handed to
the opposition parties, they asked
to take a two-hour break to read
through the document, and when
they returned everyone was for
the development,” Hlongwane
said, “People come with their own
political ideas, but that will not
influence rebranding and the vision
will stay the same.”
Nomalanga Mkhize is a Rhodes graduate, holds a Doctorate from the University
of Cape Town (UCT) and currently lectures in the Rhodes University History
department. She is a community education activist and a regular columnist for
Business Day. Open Source spoke to her about her relationship with social media.
Rebecca Karlović
OS: What social media do you
use
Mkhize: Twitter.
OS: How do you integrate social
media into your work
I use it to connect with other
scholars and writers in order to
share information, ideas, debate
and introduce each other to new
work. I also use it to interact with
people I would otherwise not get to
meet because of distance.
OS: What challenges do you face
in terms of relating social media
to your work
Well I don’t really face any
challenges because social media
is not central to my work. I use it
because I want to as a citizen.
OS: Why do you think Highway
Africa is important
It brings African journalists
together across geographic,
linguistic, and organisational divides
and focuses on the profession of
journalism and its role in society.
They tend only to raise
awareness depending on which
digital enclave they emanated
from. Look, something like
#paybackthemoney cut across the
enclaves because in that moment it
was on all our televisions and media
reports. #BringBackOurGirls was a
rare moment of global awareness
and unity and I believe it was one
of the few successful campaigns in
terms of putting the kidnapping of
the young women in Nigeria on all
our consciences.
OS: How does the fact that most
social media is shared in English
limit non-English speaking
societies in discussions online
It only limits English speakers
because they can have
conversations in one language.
The rest of us who can switch
languages can have different layers
of political discourse. I imagine that
most news media will translate into
their local languages, so anything
that originates in English will
be translated immediately if it is
considered relevant to a region.
Terms and conditions apply and can be viewed at Telkom.co.za. E&OE. Free CLIP & Itemised Billing (email). Offers valid until 20 September 2014 or whiile stocks last. *Send 5 SMSs and get 50 free SMSs for that day.
OS: How do you think twitter
campaigns , like #YesAllWomen,
help raise awareness about
important issues
Follow Nomalanga on
Twitter: @NomalangaSA
Dr Nomalanga Mkhize before introducing the book ‘Raising the Bar - Hope and Renewal in South Africa’ by Songezo Zibi.
Photo by Alexa Sedgwick

OPEN SOURCE EDITION 3 9 SEPTEMBER 2014 OPEN SOURCE EDITION 3 9 SEPTEMBER 2014
Social media equals social change
Kristen Birch
Social change ambassador and guru, Racheal
Chengetai Chikadaya, Coordinator of the
Eastern Cape Communication Forum (ECCF)
is living proof that a combination of ambition, active
participation and social media can lead to successful
community development.
Having only been working in the field of
development communication for five years, she has
accomplished much by creating opportunities for
herself, instead of waiting around for them.
“Maybe it’s because I am a middle child or because
of my background, but I have developed a passion to
provide a platform for citizens to share their voices and
discuss ideas,” Chikadaya said.
Originally from Harare, she moved to Port Elizabeth
to complete an undergraduate degree in Media
Communications and Culture at Nelson Mandela
Metropolitan University (NMMU).
“I applied for Masters and my initial focus was in
corporate communications, but I found my love for
development communications when I started working
at an NGO as a fundraising and public relations
coordinator,” Chikadaya said. “I have never gone back
since.”
As a social change activist, Chikadaya has been
involved with various developmental projects over the
years. At the beginning of this year, she began ‘Project
25-for-1’, which raised money for Bongiwe Chuna, a
girl she met at a mentoring programme at NMMU.
Chuna had just matriculated and was unable to
pay for university registration fees. Chikadaya crowd
funded via Facebook and Whatsapp, asking for 25
people to donate R200 to add up to Chuna’s R5000
registration fee.
“Because of my age, I have a lot of friends starting
out new jobs and families that do not have that many
responsibilities just yet, so I thought R200 is not
that much to ask for,” she said. The response was
immediate with friends depositing money into the
account from wherever they were, even a friend from
Korea.
Chuna was able to register and is now studying
towards the same undergraduate degree that
Chikadaya completed.
Chikadaya presented ECCF as a speaker at
yesterday’s panel discussion on “Managing Social
Media: Activating the ‘community’ in community
media”.
“The purpose was to encourage breaking through
the bureaucratic line in our brains and encourage
people to get up and do something when they see a
need,” she said.
Chikadaya is also busy studying towards her PhD
at NMMU, focusing on the field of media and citizen
voices within a participatory paradigm.
She is simultaneously trying to get ECCF on to
the social media scene. “We just got Twitter and a
Facebook page to kick-start this phase of change,”
she said. “Sustainability relies more than you can
assume on visibility.”
If she is able to be as successful in promoting
ECCF initiatives, as she was with ‘Project-25-for-1’,
this organisation is in the greatest of hands.
Racheal Chikadaya speaks to OS about developing communities through social
media. Photo: Staff photographer
Election coverage in the digital age
Athina May
Social media has become an
essential tool used across
Africa in recent elections, aiding
transparency and supporting
democratic elections.
SABC Digital director, Izak
Minaar; African Election Project
director, Kwami Ahiabenu II as well
Rachel Sibande and Levi Kabwato
from Malawi Situation Room,
discussed social media strategies
being implemented.
“Youth are not interested in
traditional content and are not brand
loyal anymore,” said Minaar who
spoke about South African election
coverage. He continued, saying
that mobile media access is key to
gaining youth interest in news.
“This has been the first election
[in South Africa] in which the IEC
gave the media access to data,
ranging from registration figures to
results”, said Minaar. He explained
that during elections the SABC
made use of two TV stations, 12
radio stations, as well as an election
app to update citizens on elections.
“Social media accessibility along
with the SABC election app gave
citizens a ‘quick click’ sense of
what’s happening,” said Minaar.
The SABC twitter page gained 1000
new followers every day in the week
before the elections.
Sibande spoke about ICT usage
during the 2014 Malawi elections.
“This was the first time technology
was used to monitor elections
[in Malawi] in real time, making
elections transparent.”
Alongside monitoring systems
put in place at voting stations during
the elections, SMS technology such
as GotToVote, was created for
citizens to register to vote via SMS.
The Ushadi platform was also used
by citizens to report activities at
election booths.
Having received 88 000
observer reports, Sibande
expressed the success of
ICT tools. “Technology has
the ability for us to enhance
trust with citizens, as they
feel that they have their own
voice [through ICT tools]”.
Sibande said that the
media should not ignore the
power mobile phones have in
bridging the digital divide. “We
want to create a system
that will contribute to
democratisation.
One that is
transparent,”
adds Malawi
Situation
Room
manager,
Levi
Kabwato.
Ahiaben
II said
he viewed
social media
as a doubleedged
sword, but
believed that the ability
to use social media to track
and create tangible reports will
create data integrity, and increase
transparency within elections.
The general consensus shared
by the speakers was that the
developing relationship between
election coverage and social media
is essential in gaining citizens’ trust
and fostering greater democratic
involvement.
Clockwise from the keft: Kwami Ahibenu,
Rachel Sibanda, Izak Minaar, Levi
Kabwato, Dumisani Moyo. Photos:
Carol Kagezi

OPEN SOURCE EDITION 3 9 SEPTEMBER 2014 OPEN SOURCE EDITION 3 9 SEPTEMBER 2014
The convergence of practice and the academic
Khanyile Mlotshwa
The convergence between journalistic
practice and academic research was a
hot topic at this year’s Highway Africa
conference. Discussions about convergence
aimed to create richer, more nuanced
dialogue about the state of
the media.
Dr Hayes Mabweazara, who teaches
Journalism Studies at Falmouth University in
the United Kingdom, launched a book, Online
Journalism in Africa: Trends, practices, and
emerging cultures, which he co-edited with
Okoth Mudhai and Jason Whittaker.
He believes that Highway Africa was the
perfect place to launch the book, and chatted
to Open Source about the conference, his
experiences and the future of digital media.
“I have always enjoyed Highway Africa as
a gathering of likeminded people reflecting on
practice,” Mabweazara said.
“One thing I like about this particular
edition of the conference is the inclusion of
the research element, which is what I do for a
living. Even more important is that if you
have such a two tier approach, where
practice and academic work converge,
participants walk away richer. I am talking
about this edition comparing to the past
editions, the last of which I attended was in
2009,”continued Mabweazara.
Mabweazara’s advice to those who are
engaged in the issue of African media and
social media is to recognise the diversity of
the continent. “The first thing that we need to
Dr Hayes Mabweazara, one of the editors of Online journalism in Africa – Trends, Practices & Emerging
Cultures during the launch at Highway Africa, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, 8 September 2014.
Photo: Nina Nel
appreciate is that Africa is complex, it is not
homogenous,” he said.
“It is a continent with nuances and
differences and this affects the way
journalists operate. You can see from the way
presentations at this conference are panning
out. It is clear that South Africa is an island in
the Southern African sub-continent, and the
East Africans are far ahead. It is true for the
whole of Africa that things are happening and
newsrooms are adopting technologies, but, in
each context, these technologies are adopted
in a localised manner,” he continued
In addition to launching the book,
Mabweazara also presented one of his
research papers, discussing the emergence of
social media as an essential tool for modern
journalism, despite resistance from some
media outlets.
“Some organisations even banned
Facebook in their newsrooms and journalists
avoided being seen on it (Facebook) as well,”
he said.
“However during one of my research
It is true for the whole
of Africa that things
are happening and
newsrooms are adopting
technologies, but, in
each context, these
technologies are adopted
in a localised manner
- Dr Hayes Mabweazara
stints in Zimbabwe, one editor told me that
nowadays before they employ a journalist
they ensure that they are on Twitter or
Facebook,” he shared.
According to Mabweazara, although
social media raised a number of normative
dilemmas for the media, journalists are
reaping the benefits which come with using it
to source, produce and disseminate content.
Mabweazara’s research interests lie in the
field of new media and journalism practice
in Africa and the wider global South. He is
no way a novice to this field of study, having
been published in a number of international
journals and worked as an editor for books on
the subject.
In addition to his position at Falmouth
University, Mabweazara serves on the
editorial board of Digital Journalism, an
international peer-reviewed journal published
by Routledge, and is the Book Reviews Editor
for Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies,
a peer-reviewed journal co-published by
Routledge and UNISA Press.
Over 400 journalists, teachers and media professionals flew, drove and walked to Rhodes University for the 18th
Highway Africa Conference. Some delegates and speakers are from Rhodes University itself while others are
from all corners of the world. Open Source provided a map of delegates and where they fit around the world.
United States
United Kingdom
Netherlands
Germany
Czech Republic
Tunisia
Pakistan
Senegal
Gambia
Sierra Leone
Liberia
Ghana
Mali
Burkina Faso
Cameroon
Togo
Nigeria
Uganda
Chad
Sudan
Ethiopia
Somalia
Kenya
Malaysia
Illustration: Madien van der Merwe
Zambia
Namibia
Botswana
Burundi
Tanzania
Malawi
Mozambique
Zimbabwe (38)
Swaziland
South Africa (263)
1-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 Other
New Zealand

OPEN SOURCE EDITION 3 9 SEPTEMBER 2014
HIGHWAY
Athina May
The stereotypical image of a
journalist carrying a satchel and
wearing their worries on their
skin was contested by the stylish
appearances made by many
delegates at the Highway Africa
conference this weekend
Draped in beautiful, bold
fabrics, the Highway Africa
apparel reflected a combination
of western fashion and with
trendy African ware. Different
national identities were distinctly
recognisable through the clothing
of individuals.
“When you meet Africans in
one room, you represent your
country and exchange knowledge
in general,” said Director for
Asamana, Filomena Silva from
the Cape Verde Islands. Dressed
in white and black vertical and
horizontal stripes, coupled with a
nude bag and Mary Jane heels,
Silva exuded elegance.
Demanding attention in
Fuchsia pink, senior reporter for
the Swaziland Observer, Winile
Mavuso’s outfit was a lustrous
combination of geometric print
and colour. “I’m in Africa, I have
to look like an African,” said
Mavuso.
Male delegates also
showcased their style by
combining formal items like
cords and square tipped shoes,
with African inspired shirts and
Kaftans. Wearing a black and
orange printed kaftan and pants,
complimented by a dark wood
Ankh neck piece, FJP student
Thembani Onceya stood out.
“Most fashion is modern and
Western,” said Onceya. “I need
to take them back, with all eyes
on me.”
According to President of the
International Institute for ICT
Jounalism, Kwami Ahiabenu
II, who sported a kaftan over
his business suit, dressing
appropriately for different
occasions is the key to effortless
style.
“Your attire changes
depending on the audience
you’re dealing with,” he
explained.
Trends spotted at the
conference could’ve rivalled the
likes of the J&B Met, however,
fashion at the ‘Highway’
remained uniquely African.
Pictured here is a selection
of our Highway Africa fashion
favourites.
Top left: Tina Hsu
Top right: Tamani Chithambo
Middle-right: Alexa Sedgwick
Bottom-left: Tamani Chithambo
Bottom-left: Alexa Sedgwick
Participants in this year’s Future Journalist Programme (FJP) can now
let their hair down. The 20 students were commended with certificates
of completion during the Telkom Awards dinner at the 1820 Settlers’
Monument last night. Each year, the FJP brings together at least 20
second year students from about six South African universities who
spend at least five days in Grahamstown during the Autumn, Winter
and Spring schools; and has become one of the most successful
programmes at Highway Africa.
Tope Adebola
With the goal of looking closer at social media
and its use in Africa, the panel discussion
“Beyond the hype”, was opened by the Policy
Officer for Freedom of Expression and the Press
at the German Federal Ministry for Economic
Cooperation and Development, Dr Alexander
Görsdorf.
Görsdorf stressed the vital role that access
to information plays in development; particularly
humane and sustainable development.
Chaired by Christopher Springate, an
employee at Deutsche Welle’s (DW) media
development and training organization, DW
Akademie, the conversation was incredibly
interactive with lots of great examples of actual
media usage in Africa.
Springate expressed a desire to move away
from a formal panel discussion and to lean
towards “an open stage,” like an open mic
event with plenty of input from the audience. He
OPEN SOURCE EDITION 3 9 SEPTEMBER 2014
Thumbs up for Nigeria
Nina Nel
Yemi Adamolekun the
Executive Director of
Enough is Enough Nigeria,
which uses technology to build a
culture of good governance and
public responsibility.
“For those of you who are online
and who do have the information,
teach others. Think of yourselves
as a thumb, easily able to touch
your other fingers,” Adamolekun
explains. She stated that this will
ensure that users have access to
correct information to make the
most informed decision they can.
Adamolekun explained that
Enough is Enough Nigeria draws
on the help of Nigerian celebrities
such as the popular 2Face as well
as social media platforms. This was
used to encourage the public to vote
during the 2011 election and will be
used again in the upcoming 2015
elections.
She pointed out that politicians
engage through social media
for three main purposes: public
relations, dissemination of
information and for responding to
questions or claims on social media.
The most active corporates in social
media are banks such as GT Bank,
asked the attendees for examples of how social
media has opened up new audiences for African
media, or how social media has opened up
African media to a new audience.
Görsdorf got things started with two
examples, the first set in Uganda where texting,
journalistic skills, and public advocacy are used
to give voice to the youth. This allows them to
talk about issues that interest them in particular.
He gave another example of youth in the
suburbs of Pretoria who enhance safety in their
community via social media.
An audience member informed the crowd that
in Zambia, Facebook is being used to broaden
the reach of radio stations.
Panellist Nigel Mugamu, founder of start-up
media company 263Chat, said “I met my wife
on Twitter,” which got many laughs. On a more
formal note, he admits he met Joe Ruzvidzo on
Twitter, who designed the 263Chat logo.
Also on the panel was Head of TV Production
at Kenya’s Citizen TV, Latifah Ngunjiri, who
which allows clients to open a bank
account via Facebook.
“Social media is forcing
governments to communicate
differently, it allows people to talk
back,” says Adamolekun.
Adamolekun also discussed
social media advocacy initiatives
such as the #BringBackOurGirls
campaign. Considering the gravity
of the crime, and the government’s
ensuing silence at the World
Economic Forum, individual citizens
were intent on ensuring that the
campaign went viral. This illustrated
the rallying power of social media
for activism.
Yemi Adamolekun, Executive Director of Enough is Enough Nigeria, discuss her observations of social media in Nigeria at
Highway Africa yesterday. Photo: Nina Nel
Photo: Alexa Sedgwick
observed that things have changed substantially
in her country.
“You can tweet the Inspector of Police now,
you can tweet the President,” she asserted.
In terms of social media penetration into
rural areas, Mugamu stated that not all relevant
and change-inducing conversations take place
online. “It’s important to have offline discussions
as well,” he said.
Ngunjiri agreed, explaining that “Kenyans are
very ‘with it’ when it comes to texting”, they are
not necessarily all about super sophisticated
technologies.
The discussion was somewhat hampered
by logistical issues which cannot be blamed
on anyone in particular, and contributions from
Lawrence Too-Okema and Grace Natabaalo
were a little rushed over. Had everything been
running on schedule, certainly the audience as
a whole would have enjoyed much more what
these two influential professionals had to share.

OPEN SOURCE EDITION 3 9 SEPTEMBER 2014
OPEN SOURCE EDITION 3 9 SEPTEMBER 2014
Health journalism needs a revamp
Rebecca Karlović
Back in 2011, Columbia
Journalism Review’s Karen
Rothmyer wrote a critical
article highlighting the misinformed
way in which the media covers
African stories.
This phenomenon, often spoken
about as “parachute journalism”,
requires change from journalists,
in order to start portraying Africa
in ways that are not governed by
Western ideas of the ‘Other’.
Health journalism is unfortunately
an area of media that has fallen into
this trap with HIV/AIDS being the
prominent disease associated with
African societies.
Professor Harry Dugmore, who
heads the Discovery Centre for
Health Journalism at Rhodes and
prolific journalist, Mandi Smallhorne
held a workshop yesterday where
they discussed the importance of
nuanced reporting on health and
science in Africa.
Discussing the challenges
regarding language and accessibility
within these spheres, Dugmore
and Smallhorne spoke about noncommunicable
diseases becoming
an increasing problem in Africa.
Non-communicable diseases are
health problems that are related
particularly to an individual’s lifestyle
and stem from things such as;
frequent tobacco use, bad eating
habits, excessive drinking and
environmental influence.
“The important thing for us
as health journalists is to give
information that isn’t patronising,”
said Dugmore. “We are dealing with
these issues globally… poverty is
an issue and so is climate change
but we need to work together to
figure them out.”
Because of the poor coverage
of diseases such as HIV/AIDS in
the past, there is a certain element
of desensitisation prevalent among
audiences.
Dugmore describes this as a
“fatigue” and acknowledges that it is
a challenge that journalists do face
across a wide range of topics.
“What we do know is that there
are more than a thousand new
infections of HIV every day,” he
explained. “You can’t say people
know enough with those figures. It’s
just lazy to say people are tired of
reading about it.”
Dugmore also admits that health
is difficult to report on because of
its gendered nature. The health
sector is still largely governed by
men and stigmas surround the “unmasculine”
act of seeking medical
attention to this day.
“Women”, he said, frequent
healthcare facilities more often, due
to the need to, for the processes
relating to childbearing.
“We need to be savvy about
it,” he says about the challenge of
reporting on health.
The solution, Dugmore argues,
lies in journalists doing their
research thoroughly and finding new
angles when reporting on diseases.
He argued that journalists should
continue to cover the issue of HIV
and AIDS in particular, but sway far
from the misinformed way of doing
so in the past.
Harry Dugmore poses for a portrait during the tea break between panel discussions
in Eden Grove on the first day of the Highway Africa conference. Dugmore is the
Director of the Discovery Centre for Health Journalism at Rhodes University and held
an afternoon workshop on Science Communication and Health Journalism in Africa.
Photo: Alexa Sedgwick
Adam Clayton. Hannah Thinyane and Steve Kromberg presenting the variety of ways mobile technologies are used to improve citizen participation in media. Photos: Carol Kagezi
The future is mobile, whichever way you cut it
Tope Adebola
Chaired by Prof Lorenzo
Dalvit of Rhodes University,
the colloquium on mobile
communication, media and services
workshop on Monday 8 September,
was so popular that the layout
of the room had to be changed to
accommodate the eager
extra bodies.
“The venue was very full,
which was encouraging and a bit
challenging,” said speaker Steve
Kromberg, a strategy consultant and
project manager who specialises in
online, social and mobile media.
Dalvit, who is the MTN Chair of
Media and Mobile Communication in
the School of Journalism and Media
Studies, jokingly recommended “a
more boring topic or less interesting
speakers” for the next colloquium.
The collaborative workshop
featured speakers with interests
in new media strategies spanning
three countries – New Zealand,
South Africa, and the United States.
Laurent Antonczak had a
motivating presentation on his work
with Maori youth in New Zealand.
The audience was treated to
YouTube clips detailing Antonczak’s
involvement in the Hono Project and
mobile filmmaking workshops in the
Cook Islands.
Grahamstonians are already
familiar with water-related
issues, so it was great to see
Rhodes University’s Computer
Science Associate Professor,
Hanna Thinyane speaking about
MobiSAM. The service delivery
monitoring application is part
of a multidisciplinary research
project investigating the use of
mobile phones to increase citizen
participation in local government.
Thinyane’s presentation was
old hash for us locals, but after
the workshop she updated Open
Source about recent developments
around MobiSAM. “We’ve had
meetings with MBB Consulting
Engineers Inc. and Amatola
Waters, and MBB wants access
to the reports we give to Makana
Municipality,” Thinyane said.
MBB invited a representative
from the Department of Technical
Infrastructure to discuss how the
information could be integrated into
the existing workflow.
“The rep was supposed to get
back to us, but we’ve been waiting
six weeks with no word from them,”
Thinyane said.
However, two weeks ago the
MobiSAM team got a call from new
Makana acting municipal manager,
Themba Mnguni, who had heard
about MobiSAM and was excited
about the app. “He wanted to
find ways to make sure the pilot
programme works, so we too can
give a report-back to our funders,”
Thinyane explained.
The MobiSAM team is currently
waiting for the council to pass a
resolution on the programme so
that regardless who the new
municipal manager is, the pilot will
still happen.
Kromberg, who Dalvit introduced
as “the big bonus moment of our
colloquium”, shed light on a project
called KeiskammahoekNOW.
“My personal involvement in
Keiskammahoek is as overall
project manager alongside Lorenzo,
we’ve been working very closely
together,” Kromberg said.
The project is meant to help
the residents in the rural town
of Keiskammahoek to share
information more productively
across their town.
“One of the challenges with
projects like this is having a strong
community partner so that you’re
not coming in from the top with
ideas that don’t have real roots in
the community,” Kromberg said.
“This project was more a case of
us responding to a request, than
us deciding to carry out an initiative
somewhere.”
Taking us to a potentially creepy
future via satellite images of the
University of Southern California
campus, Adam Clayton Powell III’s
presentation hushed the audience.
Most people were intrigued
by the electrical engineer-turned
journalist’s rich visual demonstration
about surveillance and city planning
technologies.
It included elements like ‘glovebased
user interface’ which are
reminiscent of scenes from ‘Minority
Report’, a film Clayton Powell III did
not hesitate to cite as a potential
source of inspiration for the National
Science Foundation’s Research
Centre’s work.
“Borders melt as a result of digital technology”
Chairperson Michelle Atagana leading the panel discussion on identity politics with panellists Fungai Machirori, Nanjira Sambuli, Dr Nomalanga Mkhize and Eduardo Avila at Highway Africa 2014, Rhodes University,
Grahamstown, 8 September 2014. Photo: Nina Nel
“Men tweet, women pin and everybody Facebooks”
By Youlendree Appasamy
In the last 10 years, voices from the fringes of
society – those sectors of society left out by
mainstream media - have been taking centre
stage in public discourses online.
In Africa particularly, events such as the
Westgate Mall shooting in Kenya and the
Boko Haram kidnappings in Nigeria, have
shown the power of social media in spreading
words like wildfire.
But where are we in terms of democratising
social media How does social media impact
the individual, on the most personal level
Attempts to answer these questions were
made by Fungai Machirori, Eduardo Avila,
Nanjira Sambuli and Dr Nomalanga Mkhize
at the discussion, “Identity politics and the
rise of individual voices” held yesterday. The
discussion was chaired by social media whizz
Michelle Atagana.
Mkhize and Machirori raised salient points
about how the ‘triteness of knowing’ affects
individuals interacting on social media. As
social media consumers and producers,
individuals often find themselves making false
claims, with few checks and balances online.
“The birth of the opinionista”, as Mkhize puts
it, has partly led to knowledge not being
filtered and an erosion of verifiable, quality
knowledge online.
‘Algorithmic censorship’ which is the
tailoring of news and online information to
suit what individuals like seeing from people
they ‘like’ on social media platforms such
as Facebook can be dangerous. Different
segments of society are using social media
differently as a result, “what and who we
know, depends on which social media
platform we work on,” said Machirori.
“Do we look at how the individual shapes
a collective In fact, can you remove the
individual from the collective”
Tackling the topic from different
perspectives, the panellists and chair reached
the same conclusion – that audience research
needs to be done on social media users and
the analytics and data need to be further
researched to understand the effects of social
media usage (on various platforms) on an
intrapersonal level.
As social media
consumers
and producers,
individuals often
find themselves
making false
claims, with
few checks and
balances online
Youlendree Appasamy
Songezo Zibi has a certain bravado about him.
Not a swagger, per se, but a surety in his
words and actions. His new book, Raising
the Bar – Hope and Renewal in South Africa,
was launched on Sunday night to high levels
of public expectation and scrutiny.
Zibi is confident that those “with a deep
love and concern for our country” will find the
book enthralling. However, he cautions
readers that not all walks of life
will find the work accessible
due to the technical nature
of the discussions and
arguments he presents.
He credits his
involvement in the
Midrand Group, a
handful of public
intellectuals, as a
valuable space to
spar with other likeminded
individuals
on pressing South
African issues. This
assisted his ability
to tackle topics
head on. “The
Midrand Group
facilitated a lot
of reading and
debating. It is
important to
Business Day Live Editor, Songeza Zibi speaks about his new book, Raising the
Bar. Photo: Tamani Chitambo
crystallise arguments in your head,” said Zibi.
These arguments have taken form in Zibi’s
new book but the ideas have been a long time
coming. The first draft of the book was stolen
and the second version took 18 months to write.
Altogether, the process took around three years.
Picador Africa took on publishing when Zibi
started the process of the second draft of Raising
the Bar.
Undeterred, the book took shape more easily
the second time around as Zibi felt surer of the
structure and the writing process. The book is
centred on stand-alone essays with a “golden
thread” running through them.
The commonality that Zibi highlights is his
attempt to “reconstruct South Africa’s broken
society”. Each chapter deals with a specific
topic and this is twinned with an analysis of
the problem and suggestions from a fresh
perspective.
As the newly appointed editor of Business Day
Live, Zibi is familiar with ideas of convergence
and the importance of social media as another
vehicle for disseminating news. He was invited
to launch his book at Highway Africa 2014, but
besides this involvement, urges potential readers
to get a digital copy of the Raising the Bar. “Get
access to the Kindle version […] you can make
notes on it and it has longevity.”
Zibi is a prolific and proficient user of social
media with a staggering 15 100 followers on
Twitter. Facebook, Twitter, Google + are his
social media poisons of choice.
“Google + is great because it gives choices
that aren’t available on Twitter – such as the
mute button. With Google + you get to choose
who’s in your circle – you can control who you
want and who you don’t. This keeps all the
information relevant and Google + Flipboard is
especially useful,” said Zibi.
“Highway Africa is useful and important in the
same way Google + is. Highway Africa gives one
the opportunity to listen to and see what other
people are doing. You can choose your circles.”
On a professional level, Zibi relies on Twitter
and Facebook to get Business Day Live trending
amongst audiences. “Business Day Live has
stopped all lamp-post advertising and online is
essential…people see the front page and some
stories on Twitter or Facebook first,” he said.
Although social media is useful in
understanding what media to put on which
platform, the main question remains: who actually
uses social media
“Followers on the Business Day Live Twitter
account doesn’t mean the information is getting
to the right people,” said Zibi.
He believes that people need to verify the
quality of the information on social media usage.
“[At the moment] it is a bit of a calculated guess,”
he said.
Social media should ultimately be seen as
a vehicle for information, as another way of
disseminating information. “News is a commodity
and must centre on the environment of the
reader…don’t be arrogant,” Zibi said. Media
producers can no longer dictate the content to
media receivers as social media interactivity
and usage becomes part of larger media
consumption patterns.
There is a lot more to look forward to from this
public intellectual and avid social media user.
“I have lots more books in the pipeline,” he
said, “I didn’t focus too much on the economy in
this book and the next book I write will deal with
the economy solely.”

OPEN SOURCE EDITION 3 9 SEPTEMBER 2014
OPEN SOURCE EDITION 3 9 SEPTEMBER 2014
Digital literacy key ingredient to
improved security and privacy
TSHWANE - A CAPITAL CITY OF EXCELLENCE
Tshwane is the single largest metropolitan municipality in South
Africa, covering an area of 6 368 km². It has 105 wards, 210 councillors
and more than 2,9 million residents, and is divided into seven
regions. Tshwane is the third largest city in the world in terms of land
mass, after New York and Tokyo/Yokohama.
As the capital of South Africa, Tshwane provides accommodation to
more than 100 embassies, trade delegations, consulates and
non-government organisations and hosts most foreign representatives
in one city, after Washington DC. This gives it a cosmopolitan
flavour.
Tope Adebola
Knowledge is power, and nowhere was this more
evident than at the panel discussion yesterday which
was entitled “Privacy, safety and security in cyberspace:
implications for freedom of expression”.
Chaired by Country Director for Internews Kenya,
Ida Jooste, the conversation featured erudite speakers
who emphasised in various ways the necessity and
importance of digital literacy in the modern age.
Head of Programmes at Media Monitoring Africa,
Wellington Radu kicked off the talk by explaining what
happens when the importance of digital information
literacy is underestimated. “Those who cannot access
the internet have to really sell themselves in order to
gain cheaper access, and in doing so they’re ceding
their rights to various big companies like Facebook,”
said Radu agreed.
Radu, who also has interests in ICTs, Governance
and Sustainability, observed that “in the African context,
to ensure everyone gets a piece of the pie, we need
access that is cheap, fast and for all.”
He doesn’t believe access is the only solution, and
as previously mentioned, people need to be educated
about digital technologies. “We should talk to people
about what it means when they put their photos up on
Facebook, and about what Facebook does with these
photos,” Radu explained.
He went on to add that without this kind of education,
the existing digital divide will be further entrenched. “We
run the risk of the ‘dark forces’ using the internet for the
wrong reasons,” he explained.
Manager for Research, Policy, and Advocacy
at the Film and Publications Board of South Africa
(FPB), Abongile Vanda echoed Radu’s sentiments
by recommending multidisciplinary relationships and
increased digital literacy as solutions to contentious
issues like the publication of online child pornography.
The role of the FPB is largely the regulation of media
content, publications, games, and films distributed in
cinemas and DVD rental places.
“The online environment has been a bit of a
headache for the FPB because in terms of legislation,
publication now includes online content,” said Vanda.
The FPB is the only media organization which has
a hotline in Africa. “People can call in to report child
pornography images seen online. Also we have global
connections, so if the website is not in South Africa, the
content can still be taken down in the country that hosts
the site,” Vanda explained.
Vanda discussed different kinds of online abuse,
including ‘sextortionism’. “I put this in at the last minute.
It’s usually done amongst young children – ‘if I have a
naked picture of you, I’ll put it on the internet unless you
give me x, y, z,” Vanda said, laughing mirthlessly.
On a more macro scale, Sue Valentine, Africa
Program Coordinator for the Committee to Protect
Journalists (CPJ), showed the audience why literacy in
the form of security is particularly important.
Valentine exemplified her points with a visual of the
National Security Agency’s data centre in Bluffdale,
Utah, which happens to be the biggest data reservoir
in the United States. “At this centre, they can crack and
retain interactions from people nationally and globally,”
Valentine said. “We are being watched, you are being
watched.”
A campaign that the CPJ is currently involved
in is called the Right to Report in the Digital Age
(#RightToReport). “The idea is to challenge the
US government in particular because the Obama
administration has been the most aggressive when
it comes to surveillance and spying on people,” she
explained.
Also viewing security and privacy issues from
this macro perspective was Edetaen Ojo, Executive
Director of Media Rights Agenda in Lagos. Ojo is deeply
passionate about human rights issues and generously
shared the African Declaration of Internet Rights and
Freedoms with the audience, the second time the
declaration has gone public since it was completed.
Ojo explained the rationale behind the declaration
as a need to get away from the blanket application of
foreign policies around the internet. “Unfortunately,
when it comes to these policies, [African] political
leaders appear to be replicating very bad practices
from around the world, often disregarding context and
environmental factors,” he shared.
The declaration was launched last week in Istanbul,
and is proposed for a full launch in the first quarter of
2015.
The full declaration can be accessed from
www.africaninternetrights.org.
Top to bottom: Abongile Vanda, Susan Valentine, Edetaen Ojo, Ida Jooste.
Photos: Carol Kagezi
Tshwane is a progressive city that harmoniously blends its African
roots with European traditions. An interesting blend of neoclassic,
Victorian-colonial, modern and African architectural features gives
Tshwane a cosmopolitan character. The city is indeed a meeting
place of many cultures. Many historic buildings, monuments and
museums tell the story of a colourful and often turbulent past.
Tshwane is named after Chief Tshwane, who settled here with his
followers in the mid-1700s. Early African inhabitants of the area also
referred to the area as Tshwane.
Tshwane has a diverse and rich natural, historical and cultural heritage.
Its warm and pleasant climate makes it an ideal tourist destination
all year round. It is also a leader in the fields of manufacturing,
technology, electronics, defence design and construction.
Besides being regarded as the knowledge centre of South Africa due
to its impressive concentration of academic, research, technology
and scientific institutions, the city is developing into a sports mecca
owing to its extensive sports infrastructure and moderate climate.
The City of Tshwane is renowned for its natural habitat that spirals
through its suburbs and intertwines its various city regions to form an
ecological hub where residents and visitors can enjoy open spaces
and abundant wildlife.
Tshwane is the only city in the world with a Big Five game reserve
within its boundaries. The Dinokeng Game Reserve was established
as part of the Gauteng Provincial Government’s investment initiative
and is located about 60 minutes' drive north-east of Johannesburg
and 30 minutes from Pretoria.
Highway Africa: good, bad
and the thought-provoking
All things come to an end, and the 18th
Annual Highway Africa conference is no
different. As the delegates and speakers
packed up their bags and headed out
of Grahamstown Open Source got their
thoughts on Highway Africa: the good,
the bad and the thought-provoking.
Words and photographs by Joni Lindes
Grace Natabaalo
Delegate
Uganda
African Centre for Media Excellence
“It has been great. I have met a lot of interesting people. I have
exchanged with people related to media and have made social
media contacts that might come in handy in the future. I think Dan
Gillmor’s speech made me think how media is going. We cannot
keep ignoring social media.”
Ismael Mussa
Delegate
Mozambique
Edward Monran University
“It was a good year this year.
Social media is important and
the mobile media workshop was
very informative.”
Adam Clayton Powell III
Speaker
Washington DC, United States
University of Southern
California.
“This is my 15th Highway Africa
Conference. I have so far only
missed one. Few people outside
Africa understand that Africa
has an extraordinary role in
digital media. The population is
increasing. Nigeria, for example,
has more people than America.
It can reorder the economic
and political world. We can only
begin to imagine.”
Linda Kibombo
Delegate
Uganda
NTV Uganda
“Just the fact that social media
is such a powerful tool for
communication was a highlight
for me. The sessions were
very informative. The only
negative thing was that I would
have liked to hear some of
panellists speak, instead of just
answering questions.”

OPEN SOURCE EDITION 3 9 SEPTEMBER 2014
OPEN SOURCE EDITION 3 9 SEPTEMBER 2014
Q&A with Belinda Shange
MetropolitanRepublic/11919/E
We’re leading the way to the
digital New World.
One person, home, school, community and country at a time.
We’ve welcomed over 200 million citizens of the world to our growing network. In the process we’ve
become not just the largest mobile operator across Africa and the Middle East, but also the largest single
employer on the African continent. It’s a New World of possibility, optimism and opportunity – a world
where mobile digital technology is transforming lives. It’s what we do every day. And we’re only
getting started. Log on to www.mtnnewworld.com
Welcome to the New World.
MTN South Africa
@MTNza
One of the panellists from the Upstart Programme, Belinda Shange, speaks during the panel discussion on youth, journalism and the media, ‘Catch Them Young’ on the last day of the Highway Africa conference.
Photo: Alexa Sedgwick
Four months ago, Shange, originally from Ulundi in KwaZulu Natal, was
appointed as the new Programme Manager of Upstart, a literacy development
programme in Grahamstown.
Youlendree Appasamy
OS: Which social media platforms
do you use
Shange: I use Tumblr, Facebook
and Twitter, although I don’t use
Twitter that much.
OS: How do you integrate these
social media platforms in your
work
Because I work with young
people, the youth, they are always
on social media. To send reminders
and tell them about events, I usually
use Facebook. Facebook is very
important to me in that way. Also,
now I can see who has seen the
By Youlendree Appasamy
The connections made with others at
Highway Africa can be carried forward for the
rest of one’s life – at least - a sentiment held
by Nqobile Sibisi, the programme manager
for the African News Innovation Challenge
(ANIC) and the African Media Initiative Digital
Innovation Programme in Kenya.
Sibisi was speaking at a panel discussion,
held yesterday focusing on youth, journalism
and media that featured students from the
Future Journalists’ Programme (FJP) and
Upstart, a local literacy initiative.
The plenary session discussed the
issue of youth voices and how they are
marginalised in the mainstream media.
Sibisi said the media elites including
educators and editors were not engaged with
the youth.
things on Facebook, so I know who
knows what’s happening.
OS: What challenges do you face
in terms of relating social media
to the work you do
Not everybody has access to
social media, not all of the kids
even have phones and sometimes
they need to use their parent’s
phones to remain in contact. We
do have to use traditional modes of
communication and it may seem like
everybody is on social media, but
we have to be realistic. There are
those who don’t have access and
sometimes I will need to tell team
[or class] captains, teachers and
“It is critical to know how they (the youth)
are thinking about themselves in the greater
media landscape,” Sibisi continued.
She stressed that disruptive learning is the
future of teaching journalism courses.
“We need to fill the current gaps in
journalism schools,” said Sibisi.
FJP and Upstart are inventive and
collaborative in finding ways to fill these gaps
in knowledge, by teaching a broad range of
media skills, and equipping students for a
digital-first environment.
Chante Petersen, one of the FJP students
from Cape Town had the following to say:
“What we truly seek is a platform for our
voices – the media needs to give us a
second glance.”
The FJP presentations provided the
details of their boot camps. According to
the students, they received skills in radio,
parents [face-to-face] and it’s tricky.
OS: What strategies are
most useful to social media
integration
Facebook, Mxit and Whatsapp
are the best ways to send
messages and they are young and
send a lot of messages! They also
like tagging each other and things,
but most of these kids haven’t even
heard of Instagram or blog sites like
Tumblr.
OS: What programmes are you
going to implement at Upstart to
further integrate social media
At the moment we are dealing
with plagiarism, as the kids think
that going to the library and copy
and pasting information from the
internet, mostly from Wikipedia,
is research. Also, we have the
problem of kids going to the
library and not knowing how to
work with computers. We need to
do workshops and teach online
etiquette as parents hold us
responsible for what their children
see. They’re young and we must be
careful.
OS: Why do you think Highway
Africa conferences are
important
Talking about the margins to
new media and in arts journalism. They tried
out some of the arts journalism skills at the
Grahamstown National Arts Festival in June.
Whereas FJP consists of tertiary level
students, Upstart focusses on high school
learners.
“Our motto is developing youth through
creative community and that is a direct
response to low literacy levels,” said Belinda
Shange, Upstart Programme Manager.
However, Upstart deals with more than
just low literacy levels in under-privileged
areas in Grahamstown.
“Upstart deals with social issues such as
domestic and sexual abuse, suicide, and
finding identity as a young person,” said
Shange.
Participatory journalism projects in
conjunction with Rhodes Journalism and
Media Studies School provide avenues for
the mainstream is something
I personally relate to. I am
‘minoritised’, but now we have
room to speak for ourselves
and this is especially important
especially coming from ekasi (the
township). This whole conference
has been quite exciting and this
session in particular was focussed
on the youth. Sometimes these
discussions can be too academic
but right now it has been very
accessible and the young people
I’ve spoken to have thought the
same. We want to understand, so
that when we understand we are
able to talk about it.
Catch ‘em young – a story of youth journalism
‘Upstarters’ to get their opinions and stories
out into the media sphere.
Sanele Ntshingana, who was a part of
the Upstart initiative from its inception in
2008, said the relationship that Upstart has
to other institutional bodies, such as Rhodes
University, could be less paternalistic.
“We need to investigate the power
dynamics at play,” said Ntshingana.
Until that relationship is evenly balanced,
these youth initiatives will fail to bridge the
gap in curriculums and between young
individuals – whether that is in journalism
courses or basic English, Ntshingana added.
The discussion allowed a space where
the youth were speaking for themselves.
The Highway Africa Conference has the
ability to foreground peripheral and unheard
groups and bring their work to the eyes of a
mainstream media audience.

OPEN SOURCE EDITION 3 9 SEPTEMBER 2014
Sisonke Mlamla // Peddie //University
of Fort Hare
Bongani Mtshwene // Pretoria //
Tshwane University of Technology
Sana Refilwe Mailula // Limpopo //
University of Limpopo
Jackson Malatji // Tzaneen // Tshwane
University of Technology
Aviwe Siphesihle Mtila // King Williams
Town // Walter Sisulu University
Sbongakonke Mbatha //Amanzimtoti //
Durban University of Technology
Litsa Mazuku // Mpumalanga // Durban
University of Technology
Future
Journalists
Wandiswa Ntengento // East London //
Walter Sisulu University
Siyamtanda Capa // Flagstaff // Walter
Sisulu University
Simvuyele Mageza // Pretoria //
Tshwane University of Technology
Nompumelelo Kubheka, // KwaZulu
Natal // University of Zululand
reminisce on
their experience
Sandiso Ndlovana, // Empangeni //
University of Zululand
Thandi Bombi // Johannesburg //
Rhodes University
Thembani Onceya // Grahamstown //
Rhodes University
Chanté Peterson // Cape Town
// Cape Peninsula University of
Technology
Sisipho Skweyiya // Cape Town //
Rhodes University
We really
started to
believe that we
were making
a valuable
contribution
to the media
world
Twokozani Shongwe // Limpopo //
University of Limpopo
Sisipho Skweyiya
Photos: Tamani Chithambo
The Future Journalists Programme (FJP)
has been an opportunity of a lifetime for the
20 young aspiring journalists, who took part
in the programme for the year 2014. The
programme is a Highway Africa initiative
which aims to provide students with more
knowledge and skills, in order to enhance
their future journalism endeavours.
As a fellow FJP student, my experience
with the programme has been eye-opening
and incredibly useful. We were exposed
to different disciplines within the media
industry such as: writing for print, blogging,
photography, design and radio. This was
extremely exciting because some other
students and I thought we knew everything
about how the media works, since we all
study journalism, but we soon realised that
we had only scratched the surface.
This is because the way in which the
programme is structured sort of disrupted
the routine and academic form of learning
that most of us are used to, in a way which
taught us real, newsroom-applicable skills.
All of us had interacted with technology
at different levels, depending on the
university we came from. It was exciting
to be able to work with technologies I was
used to, but also extend my understanding
of these mediums, as well as learn
something new.
The National Arts festival was another
nerve-wracking , but important experience
for all of us, especially because none of us
had ever experienced the festival, and so
we did not know what to expect.
We were thrown completely into the
deep end, and we were never ready for the
amount of work that we were expected to
do. We had to wake up early in the morning
so that we were in time to attend the shows.
After that we had to go to the newsroom,
write reviews, edit photos, as well as blog
about our experiences. On top of that, we
had to produce news packages about the
festival for the campus station, Rhodes
Music Radio.
What made the programme wonderful
above everything was the fact that we were
taught to take pride in, and be confident
about our work. We really started to believe
that we were making a valuable contribution
to the media world. This programme also
provided a platform to fill the empty gaps
and also to be sure of what we did not know
before, and the Highway Africa conference
provided these answers.
Through the FJP, we have acquired a
broad perspective of the media industry,
and we now know that there are many
different opportunities available for us to
explore.
We are the future journalists of Africa.
OPEN SOURCE EDITORIAL TEAM - Editor: Sim Kyazze / Assistant Editors: Binwe Adebayo; Hancu Louw / Sub-Editor: Khanyile Mlotshwa /Design and Layout Team: Nicola Poulos (Team Leader); Sihle Mtshiselwa, Madien van der Merwe / Photographers:
Alexa Sedgwick; Carol Kagezi; Tamani Chithambo / Multi-media Team: Vimbai Mdzi (Team Leader); Lilian Magari; Joni Lindes / Podcast Team: Bulali Dyakopu; Eddie Magade / Writers: Rebecca Karlović; Athina May; Nicole Glover; Tope Adebola; Nina Nel; Tina
Hsu; Youlendree Appasamy; Kristen Birch // Future Journalist Programme (FJP) Spring School 2014: Aviwe Siphesihle Mtila; Siyamthanda Capa; Wandiswa Ntegento; Nompumelelo Kubheka; Sandiso Ndlovana; Noxolo Nhlangothi; Sana Mailula;
Mokgaetji M. Kekana; Thokozani Shongwe; Sisonke Mlamla; Jackson Malatji; Bongani Mtshwene; Simvuyile Mageza; Sisipho Skweyiya; Thandi Bombi; Thembani Onceya; Sbongakonke Philadelphia Mbatha; Dumisile Litsa Musuku; Lynn Butler; Chante Petersen.
HIGHWAY AFRICA// Director: Chris Kabwato / Conference Managers: Siphokazi Maneli; Vimbai Chikukwa; Katlego Gabashane.
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