Africa Day on the 25th May is the annual commemoration of the foundation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), now known as the African Union in 1963.
Join us as we celebrate all that makes us African. As Africa’s oldest community radio station project, this day has a special significance to us.
Watch the “I am an African” video clip.
The video above features an amended extract from the, “I am an African” speech by Thabo Mbeki at the adoption of the RSA Constitution Bill, 8 May 1996.
Deputy Minister of Communications with Khusi and Tyler from the Morning Cruise
The Deputy Minister of Communications, Ms Pinky Kekana visited Bush Radio on Thursday (10 May 2018) as a lead up to the department’s budget vote in Parliament.
During her visit, the deputy minister said that she is visiting Africa’s oldest community radio station project to better understand the challenges facing the sector and the unique challenges facing each station.
Intensive discussion with Bush Radio regarding the state of community media
After the visit to Bush Radio, Kekana addressed the National Community Radio Forum Western Cape Meeting where she said that the Sentech issue; where stations’ transmissions were cut due to arrears, was a wake-up call to the Department of Communication.
She said that the discussion on the challenges would be taken forward at the proposed Community Media Summit, and that the summit would be solution orientated.
The Deputy Minister being shown the operational transmitter used in Bush Radio’s pirate transmissions pre-1994
The Deputy Minister also discussed the role of government to provide an enabling environment for the sustainability of community broadcasters by assisting in opening doors from corporates through advertising.
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One of Bush Radio’s board members and a strong anti-apartheid activist Professor William Tilden McClain passed away on Sunday the 02nd of October 2011. We at Bush Radio mourn his death.
Professor McClain was originally from a small town inIndiana in the United States, and after his studies served as Deputy Attorney General of Indiana.
His first interest of South Africa began in 1950’s when he went to study at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the Universityof London. Initially he was going to study Indian or Middle Eastern law, but was drawn to African law. At this time he also followed the Treason Trial in South Africa very closely.
In 1961 he was sent by the University to do research and collect documents in Africa. He drove from Nairobi to Lesotho and visited eight African states, including Swaziland. This is where he met his wife May Vuyelwa Hillary.
Professor McClain had a very close relationship with the struggle movement and its leadership in exile especially Oliver Tambo and Chris Hani. In an interview with a Bush Radio intern two months ago he recalled a story of how he got to give Oliver Tambo his sunglasses. “Oliver and I were on the plane heading for Zambia. Just before we landed in Lusaka, Oliver asked me to give him my sunglasses for disguise and I gave them to him and I never got them back”
He became involved with Bush Radio more than seven years ago and served on the board at the time of his death.
Professor McClain has been described as a leader, mentor and a person who was always willing to give. His guidance and generous heart will be sorely missed by everyone at Bush Radio. He has left a void which no one can fill. Our condolences go to his wife, children, extended family and his friends.
On the 18th of May 2011, South Africans took to the polls to put their mark in the fourth Local Government Elections. The race to the elections was an interesting one. Political parties pulled out all the stops to ensure that they received as many votes as possible, and the battle for the Western Cape was especially hotly contested.
As part of Bush Radio’s plan to cover this momentous event (which saw a higher voter turnout than in previous local government elections) Bush Radio trained nine first year journalism students from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT).
With the help of these students, we brought you live reports from voting stations all over Cape Town. Together with our regular newsteam these students were our roaming reporters on the day as well as bringing reports and live programmes from the IEC results centre until the final results were announced.
Here the students share their experiences of being trained, working with, and reporting for Bush Radio with you:
“The 2011 local government elections were a nail-biting event, as it saw the leading party, the ANC and the official opposition the DA pulling out all stops to win the votes of the many registered South African voters. Being in the middle of this highly contested election was both a very nerve-wracking and very exciting experience for me. Reporting live for Bush Radio and speaking with both for time and regular was an experience that I will cherish for a very long time.”
Bhekimpilo Dungeni
“Working with Bush Radio is certainly great, but to get to cover the 2011 Local Government Elections and get to interview candidate councillors for different wards was an opportunity to die for. As a young and aspiring journalist, I had the opportunity to mingle with different political officials as they made their last minute rounds before the voting stations doors closed at 7pm on Election Day. It was a great experience being live on radio for the first time, although nervous at first, but it kept me on the edge and it became the drive for me to deliver the best of my ability. I am certainly looking forward to working with Bush Radio in future, and I thank the whole team at Bush Radio who went out of their way to make sure we were ready for the big day. Thank you to our CPUT colleagues and lecturer Mr Shepi Mati for believing in us.”
“When they told us we are going to be reporting live from our voting stations, I was nervous. I didn’t know how to feel, what to feel. When I started that morning it was cold but I made the most of it. As the time for my live cross approached, my heart was beating faster. But after that it went better. Despite me being nervous, I was excited at the time. I was going to vote for the very first time. That experience cannot be put into words. I sounded somewhat professional although I’m still a student. The Bush Radio team put a great deal of energy and faith into training us for this particular task and they are great for that. Not forgetting Mr. Mati for all his awesomeness.”
Thapelo Sodinga
“As a young journalist and a person who is studying journalism at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, being on the field is the most important thing that I always wished would happen in my career. On the 18th may 2011, I can say my dream had come true. The experience that I had during the IEC local government elections was quite a phenomenal one. My experience of the day is really indescribable working with Bush Radio. And of course talking with the Congress of the People (COPE) candidate Mr Phinda Siyo on the day was such an exciting moment for me. Getting to know the process of those elections was also a wonderful experience for me. Lastly, thanks to Bush Radio who gave us such platform to showcase our skills.”
Lauren Petersen
“The Municipal elections are always very exciting but this year it was even more exciting. The reason for this is because I reported live for Bush Radio about the events happening in my area on that day. At first I was nervous because thousands of people will be listening to me, not to mention my family as well. I’m glad everything went smooth though, and according to plan. I enjoyed every moment of it, even standing in the cold and coming home with a headache it was all worth it. Thank you to the Bush Radio Team for giving me the opportunity to be a real journalist for a day.”
Dylan Oktober
“Covering the local government elections was an exceptional experience from the time I arrived at the voting station till the time the voting station closed. It was exciting reporting the happenings of the day as well as interviewing people from different walks of life. I must admit that reporting for the first time was nerve-wracking and required a lot of work as the day progressed but I was able to handle the pressure and deliver a product with which I am satisfied with. I feel privileged for being given the opportunity to report for Bush Radio and I am thankful for the staff’s support throughout the day.”
Baden Gillion
“The experience of working as a journalist reporting on the local elections has been one of the highlights of my life and the memories will always stay with me. The highlights for me were reporting for Bush on the voting process at my local voting stations, to co-hosting the live radio show, Backchat, interviewing Marius Fransman, the Chairperson of the ANC. The absolute best moment was breaking a news story about an investigation into an IEC official before any other media house. This has been an amazing life experience and I’d like to thank Bush Radio for giving me this opportunity.”
“Bush Radio has granted me one of the greatest experiences in my life. For the first time since I’ve started my studies I felt like a “real” journalist. My highlights include every second spent at the IEC Results Centre, where I interviewed various politicians, lined up various politicians alongside my fellow student journalists, including getting the Tony Ehrenreich interview for the coveted 7 o’clock spot, ahead of other media institutions. Also co-hosting Backchat along with my fellow student journalists was a nerve-wracking but ultimately awesome experience. I would like to express my gratitude towards Bush Radio for handing us this opportunity which has helped us to become better journalists. Also a special thanks to Lusanda, Khanyisa and Freedom for showing us the ropes first hand, you guys were awesome.”
“Every student has a particular inclination or plateau within their chosen field of study which they aspire to, something that makes them say “I could do that” or “that will be me in ten years”. Personally, one of these inclinations has always been radio journalism, so when the opportunity to work and gain real-life experience with the Bush Radio team was made available to me, saying that I was excited would probably be the understatement of the year. From the very start of our “working week” all of the students involved were made to feel welcome and part of the team, even though we had very important tasks to perform under the Bush Radio banner: Live coverage in residential areas of the 2011 IEC Municipal elections and coverage of all the happenings at the IEC results centre afterwards, which culminated in myself and three of my class-mates co-hosting Backchat. I would just like to thank the Bush Radio crew as a whole, because by the end of the week I was looking at people within the journalism profession whom I admire and saying: “I did that” and “that was me yesterday”.
Final Briefing: The local election newsteam do the final prep before voting booths open.
It is all systems go for the Local Government Elections 2011 (LGE2011) – according to the IEC – and the same applies for Bush Radio 89.5FM.
For the past few weeks we have been getting nine first-year journalism students from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology ready to assist our newsroom trainees to ensure that we have on-the-ground coverage of the elections.
Our LGE2011 team will be bring you updates and live reports from Mitchells Plain to Khayelitsha, Kensington to Belhar and Wynberg through to Bellville. They will be filing reports from 7am through to after the polls close at 7pm.
Stay tuned for the newsteam’s wrap-up programme of the day’s events from 7 to 8pm.
We will also be based at the IEC Operations Centre until the final results are released, bringing you any alerts and results as they become available.
Independent: Thembisile Mbenenene, Lusanda Bill (Bushnews), Mario Wanza
Catch the forth of a series of debates with political parties contesting the 2011 Local Government Elections in the Western Cape on Newsline tonight (12 May 2011) at 7pm, repeated Friday at 8pm.
Tonight the Bushnews team spoke to two independent candidates.
Tune in via 89.5FM or www.bushradio.co.za
Source: Bush Radio News
watch the video on your mobile: http://m.youtube.com/bushradio1
Left to Right: Mawethu Wiseman Mdude (African People's Convention), Khanyisa Tabata (Bushnews), Andre Fourie (Freedom Front Plus) and Abdurrazak Ebrahim (National Freedom Party)
Catch the third of a series of debates with political parties contesting the 2011 Local Government Elections in the Western Cape on Newsline tonight (5 May 2011) at 7pm, repeated Friday at 8pm.
Tune in via 89.5FM or www.bushradio.co.za
Source: Bush Radio News
Left to Right: Anwar Adams (PAC), Sipho Vanga (AZAPO), Lelethu Mquqo (Bushnews), Ricardo Sedres (IFP) and Jack Miller (Cape Party)
Catch the second of a series of debates with political parties contesting the 2011 Local Government Elections in the Western Cape on Newsline tonight (28 April 2011) at 7pm, repeated Friday at 8pm.
Tune in via 89.5FM or www.bushradio.co.za
Source: Bushradio News
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