Raymond Silinga (31 January 1977 to 30 March 2023)
A tribute to Raymond Silinga by Bush Radio Programme Integrator, Adrian Louw
April is a significant month in South Africa – it is the month we mourn but also celebrate the life of one of the greatest leaders, Chris Hani.
Unfortunately, this time of the year will now also be a reminder of the loss of another leader who passed on to soon.
Raymond Silinga.
Raymond joined Bush Radio, Africa’s oldest community radio station project, as an intern in our newsroom in the late nineties – a time when we were still euphoric about the change that occurred in our country, and filled with hope, passion and energy for the potential of our new democracy.
He then grew from being a journalism student doing his practical from the Peninsula Technikon to be the head of our newsroom.
At Bush Radio every department is important but we felt, due to our history, that news was at the forefront of our newly earned democracy. We wanted to make sure that we hold the government and its institutions accountable to the people – one of its most important functions.
Bush Radio felt lucky in having Raymond, someone who understood the importance of this role of the media…and to make sure that we never…ever see the darkness of our terrible past again.
But luck had nothing to do with it… it was the struggle… the struggle, for our people to be free, to demand, and fight for the rights for all our people. Especially the rights of those who still suffer from the evil legacy of apartheid.
Raymond never called on his families’ struggle credentials to prove his worth – but the spirit and blood of Anne Silinga ran strong in his veins.
Raymond’s passion to hold officials accountable was visible in his passion for leading the team in covering our second democratic national elections. Even with his own strong political beliefs, he ensured that all political parties in Cape Town received fair coverage on Bush Radio.
Perhaps this was because he knew how fragile democracy is, or remembering the sacrifices of so many to achieve our liberation, he never took his role lightly.
We asked Raymond’s former news editor at Bush Radio, Juanita Williams, to share a memory of Raymond and of her time working with him: “His smile. Not something he did often while working, but it did the light-up-the-room thing. Also his no-nonsense attitude. We didn’t always agree, and debates were plentiful. I’m so sad that I won’t randomly run into him in town to see him flash that smile and hear his smooth voice. I’m so sorry that his career was cut short, he had so much to contribute.”
We also asked another of Raymond’s former colleagues, Berenice Joshua Moss, who is a journalist at the SABC to share her thoughts with us: “When I started my journey at Bush Radio in 2002, Raymond Silinga was my Editor and mentor in the news room. A smart dresser and always very precise. He was always straight to the point and you knew what was expected of you.
Raymond enabled me to follow my passion for court and crime reporting by allowing me to go on certain assignments. But made sure that I produced a story worthy of making it to air. Early morning diary meetings set the tone for the day and Raymond made sure we all understood what we needed to do. He was my first Editor in my journalism career. Thank you for the lessons learnt Raymond.
May you rest in peace and rise in glory.”
Raymond’s passion for politics and his willingness to debate created a newsroom that any journalist would have been proud to serve in – and his snazzy dress sense meant Bush Radio didn’t look too disheveled at public functions.
To those who knew Raymond, we share your sense of loss, but we think as Raymond knew… that our democracy is precious, that our futures are precious… that taking care of this fragile gift that our ancestors gave us can also be a burden… but it is something that must be protected, and we must remember who we are doing it for.
In radio training we always remind people that when you are in studio you need to imagine that you are talking to one person…at Bush Radio we also remind newcomers that we exist to make our people’s lives better – that we are here to serve.
When our previous managing director, the late Zane Ibrahim, ended our staff meetings, he would always remind people that they need to visualize Mrs Silinga in Langa — much to Raymond’s embarrassment — and would ask staff and volunteers: “Did you? At the end of your shift … make her life better?”
Raymond, you made our lives better– you always made sure that Mrs Silinga in Langa’s life was better at the end of your shift.
The event is called “The People’s Airwaves” and is part of MAP’s series Beyond Borders; which brings global practitioners and experts in conversation with each other, reimagining the meaning and significance of borders by blurring the boundaries between different genres and media, and exploring people and spaces that cross imagined borders.
Video clip of Bush Radio streaming live in New YorkListen to the Bush Radio / WRHU broadcast
The broadcast consisted of a “Taste of Cape Town with Wayne McKay, Lerato Mashile and Mitchum George followed by the WRHU team interviewing a Bush Radio panel consisting of:
This year in the lead up to World Radio Day, Bush Radio was invited to participate in a broadcast with WRHU Radio Hofstra University 88.7 FM in the United States as part of their global celebration.
Join us this Friday, 12 February at 3pm as we take the Cape Flats to New York and beyond.
Wayne McKay, Lerato Mashile and Mitchum George will host a “Taste of Cape Town” and this will be followed by the WRHU team interviewing Bush Radio Alumni and discussing the power of community media, its role in Africa, challenges, innovative radio programming, training and the impact of the station in Africa and globally.
Trevor Davids – a media specialist, entrepreneur and Bush Radio volunteer engaged in developing radio programmes
Adrian Louw – Bush Radio Programme Integrator and media trainer
*Proclaimed in 2011 by the Member States of UNESCO, and adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2012 as an International Day, February 13 became World Radio Day (WRD). This year WRD is divided into three subthemes:
Evolution – The world changes, radio evolves.
Innovation – The world changes, radio adapts and innovate.
9 August 1995 – South Africa’s first National Women’s Day – was chosen because we wanted to honour all the women who had been instrumental in giving rise to the community radio sector and establishing Bush Radio, in particular.
Listen to an audio documentary on Bush Radio and community radio
This year COVID19 has proven the importance of community media in helping the fight against the pandemic, by being a vital source of information and supporting the communities we serve through our programming.
Our events to celebrate 25 years of broadcasting were put on hold, but now we have an opportunity to reflect on how far we’ve and look towards the next – dare we say it – quarter of a century!
Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Communications has announced that Bush Radio’s Managing Director Brenda Leonard is one of the candidates shortlisted to fill one of four vacancies on the Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA) Board.
The addition of Leonard to the shortlist is a move in the right direction for the MDDA’s search for Board members, according to Bush Radio Programme Integrator Adrian Louw.
“Leonard’s standing within the community media sector, due to her commitment and level of integrity, as well as the wide range of skills she possesses, will be an asset to the MDDA. She has led Bush Radio through very trying times – and continues to do so – and the skills she’s gathered over 27 years of community radio involvement will provide the MDDA with much-needed direction on a strategic level.”
She spearheads Bush Radio’s drive to ensure more support for the community media sector.
Leonard is the Western Cape’s provincial secretary of the National Community Radio Forum, volunteer bookkeeper at the Mitchells Plain Advice and Development Project, and is on the journalism advisory committee for the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, and a founding delegate of the United Nations Global Alliance on Media and Gender.
The National Community Radio Forum issued a press statement after their meeting with the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) yesterday.
Again Bush Radio is very concerned about these developments and we believe that a closure of one station is worrying. We call upon all parties involved to look for an amicable solution for the continued survival and growth of the community radio sector.
We also encourage communities, individuals, organisations and businesses to support their community radio stations.
“In the small meeting room buried deep within Bush Radio’s second-floor offices on Victoria Road in Salt River, central Cape Town, and lying alongside an ancient Zenith Trans-Oceanic analog radio are two maroon leather cases.
These cases are marked with the iconic golden dog and gramophone logo of His Master’s Voice, formerly the Victor Talking Machine Company. These cases contain original recordings of speeches, debates, poetry, and music performed by South African anti-apartheid activists—those deemed so dangerous that they were banned from gathering or speaking publicly by the then-government.”
If you would like to see us continue our work or have been touched by it please show your support through a contribution via our GIVEGAIN campaign or directly into our account:
Bank: Standard Bank Account Name: Bush Radio Account Number: 07 122 0194 Branch Name: Mowbray Branch Code: 004909 Bank address: 37 – 39 Main Road, Mowbray, Western Cape, South Africa, 7700 SWIFT address: SBZA ZA JJ
It is with great shock that we at Bush Radio learnt this evening of the passing of Matthew Buck. Matthew was a volunteer, trainer and eventually Bush Radio’s main technical support and installer for our studios.
Below is an extract from a social media post by Adrian Louw our Programme Integrator:
“It’s Friday evening around 8pm on 28 July 1995, Matt and myself were the last two people in the building. The final touches to Africa’s oldest community radio station project’s first legal on-air studio were being put in place.
Then the worst possible thing happened – a buzz, then a click. The Soundcraft Series5 mixer’s power supply had blown. With just over a week to go for the official broadcast and now legal switch-on, it was a disaster. Matt called the supplier from his Motorola (he was the first person I knew who owned a cellphone) and after a few hours of intense cursing and fancy soldering, he had the power supply fixed.
Fast forward to 2008, and I was on one of my training missions in a town called Karas in Namibia, and Matt and his team were building the studios. Again, final testing for the handover to the crew there and then something on the telephone hybrid blew.
Ever since, Matt and I agreed that I would not be there when they did any final handovers. And so, when Bush Radio moved on to a digital studio in 2012, I took a day’s leave at the end of the install and handover… Matt and his team were responsible for the installation of most of the studios from the initial licensing of Community Radio in South Africa.
And, with so many who continue to exploit the sector, he was one of the few people we could rely on at Bush Radio.
Matthew (as I always insisted on calling him), I will miss you.
His final message to me was “Tell Adrian not to worry.”
To Levi, his family and friends: there would be no community radio sector in South Africa if it wasn’t for people like Matthew.
Matthew chose to walk with the people of South Africa and this continent.
World Press Freedom day (3 May) is a date which celebrates the principles of press freedom, to evaluate and defend the media from attacks on their independence and to pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the exercise of their profession.
World Press Freedom day also acts as a reminder to governments of the need to respect and commitment to press freedom.
It serves as an occasion to inform citizens of violations of press freedom – a reminder that in dozens of countries around the world, publications are censored, fined, suspended and closed down, while journalists, editors and publishers are harassed, attacked, detained and even murdered.
World Press Freedom Day was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 1993 following a Recommendation adopted at the twenty-sixth session of UNESCO’s General Conference in 1991. This in turn was a response to a call by African journalists who in 1991 produced the Windhoek Declaration on media pluralism and independence.
World Press Freedom day
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