Keeping Bush Radio On Air – Brenda, Adrian Shortlisted for #NatNakasaAwards

Brenda Leonard and Adrian Louw

By Emma Derr

A few weeks ago, Bush Radio Managing Director Brenda Leonard and Programme Integrator Adrian Louw were nominated for the esteemed Nat Nakasa Award – and it’s just been announced that they made the 2018 shortlist!

The award is named after South African journalist Nat Nakasa, and is given to individuals who show exceptional integrity and courage in their work.

Nakasa embodied fearless journalism at a time – the 1960s – when media was anything but free. During a period when black voices were rarely printed or heard in the news, Nakasa was one of the most important and influential anti-apartheid reporters.

Read more on Nat Nakasa

The award is awarded annually by the SA National Editors’ Forum (SANEF), Print Media SA and the Neiman Society.

SANEF says that those who are nominated must have “shown integrity and reported fearlessly and tenaciously striven to maintain a publication or other medium despite insurmountable obstacles”, as well as resisted censorship and displayed commitment to serving the South African people.
She began working at Bush Radio in 1993 and says that the biggest accomplishment of her career is ensuring that Bush Radio is on air and legal at all times.

Nat Nakasa was often called a brave journalist, and Leonard says South Africa still needs people like this, even in the post-apartheid era, because journalists can expose corruption and educate.

“Even when there were threats to our sustainability, Bush Radio is important historically and currently influential,” Leonard said.

She said that Bush Radio has shaped the establishment and legislation of the Media Development Diversity Agency, which was created by an Act of Parliament to help disadvantaged communities who lack access to media.

Louw says, while Brenda Leonard keeps the organization running, he is responsible for programming, staffing, and mentoring.

He says his favorite part of the job is creating a safe space for young people to develop and become courageous journalists.

“The experience people have here changes lives and that’s the joy of being a part of an organization like Bush Radio,” Louw said.

He said that through his career, he has witnessed Bush Radio at the forefront of developing and defending the community sector of radio in the country. He said he considers Bush Radio one of the last “truly independent voices for the community”.

Nat Nkasa

“I think we create hope in people about what’s possible,” Louw said. “We only rise when the lowest of us rise, and Bush Radio has and always will rise with the people we serve in the community. This is my small contribution to making South Africa better.”

The winner of the Nat Nakasa Award will be announced on Saturday, June 23 at Randlords in Braamfontein, Johannesburg*.

* Brenda and Adrian have asked a former Bush Radio staff member (now based in Johannesburg) to represent the station at the awards dinner.

Related:

BBC: Nat Nakasa reburial: South African writer’s remains return

Essa Moosa – Always ready to fight the good fight

We are saddened by the loss of Judge Essa Moosa who had served as Bush Radio trustee and mentor at the formal establishment of the station in the early 1990s. Judge Moosa helped ensure that Bush Radio became the pioneering community radio station it is today and that the voice of all communities are heard.

Even though Judge Moosa was no longer a trustee of the station, he followed developments in the media and the station closely, and was a regular on-air guest to highlight the challenges faced by the Kurds through his work with the Kurdish Human Rights Action Group.

His lessons of dignity, self-pride, searching for knowledge and fighting for the rights of all are values we cherish and strive to maintain and pass on to all the young people who are now part of the station.

The above clip is from the Bush Radio documentary Partial Eclipse. Judge Essa Moosa confronts officials from the apartheid regime Post Office, police and security Special Branch as they raid Bush Radio offices in 1993 to confiscate and charge members of the station for broadcasting illegally.

Judge Essa Moosa passed away in Cape Town on February 26, 2017.

We salute you

A brief biography of Essa Moosa*

Judge Essa Moosa was born on 8 February 1936 in District Six, Cape Town. He qualified as an Attorney-at Law and was admitted to practice by the High Court of the Supreme Court, Cape Town on 1 June 1962. He practised as an Attorney in Cape Town until December 1997 and in 1998 was appointed as a judge of the High Court of the Supreme Court in Cape Town, officially retiring on 8 February 2011. He has six siblings, is married and continues to live in Cape Town.

Specialising in human rights issues for almost 40 years, he challenged, in court violations of basic human rights such as detention without trial, freedom of expression, freedom of movement, security and emergency legislations and regulations. During this time he acted for a number of prominent non-governmental organisations, community based organisations, leading political and community activists. In 2012 the University of the Western Cape conferred an Honorary Doctorate in law on him in recognition of his contribution in the field of human rights.

He was a founding and executive member of the National Association of Democratic Lawyers and chaired its Human Rights Committee. He was a member of the Constitutional Committee of the African National Congress (ANC), which gave logistical support to the ANC negotiation team for the establishment of a democratic, non-racial and non-sexist South Africa. He also served as the Provincial Election Agent for the ANC in the region of the Western Cape for the first democratic elections in April 1994.

In addition he serves in a voluntary position as trustee of the University of the Western Cape, a position he has held for more than 20 years. He has also served as the Chairperson of the Council of the Peninsula Technicon and later as a member of the Council until the merger of the institute with the Cape Technicon. He was a founding member and trustee of the community based media initiatives including; Bush Radio, Grassroots Publications, Saamstaan Newspaper (Southern Cape) and South Newspaper.

*Source: International Peace and Reconciliation Initiative

Related:

Hamba Kahle Vincent Kolbe

Johnny Issel: Everything that was noble in the Struggle

Bush Radio mourns, Professor William T. McClain (1923-2011)

Listen to your heart – remembering Zane Ibrahim

Bush Radio celebrates 19 years legal

9 August 1995 – Former Programme Co-ordinator; Shamiel X Adams, the late Ralton Praah, former station manager, Farah Moosa (behind the mic) and Adrian Louw (as published in the Cape Times)

As we celebrate the 19th National Women’s Day in South Africa,  Africa’s oldest community radio celebrates 19th year of broadcasting legally in a democratic South Africa.

Saturday at 2pm marks the time Bush Radio 89.5FM switched on with a license from the broadcasting authority. The first person on air was volunteer news co-ordinator, Juanita Williams (currently the managing director of AllAfrica Global Media) who read the first news bulletin followed by former station manager, Farah Moosa and a host of guests from various organisations.

Read more about Bush Radio’s history: CLICK HERE

School holidays – a good time to learn

While everyone may be on school holidays in South Africa at Bush Radio it is always a good time to brush up or learn new skills.

In the first week of the holidays Bush Radio hosted the UNESCO Empowering Local Radio with ICTs for Bush Radio and Radio Atlantis.

The second week saw the young people who are part of the Children’s Radio Education Workshop (CREW) get further practical training.

Enjoy the slideshow:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.