From the protests, to fashion the Bush Radio news team brought us coverage from inside and outside the State of the Nation address. 2022 saw the first SONA outside of the Parliamentary precinct which was severely damaged in an alleged arson attack in January.
In CONNECTED 2 JAZZ this Tuesday, 16 June, Nigel Vermaas marks the 44th Anniversary of the Soweto Uprising by playing virtually non-stop music from South Africans and Americans that directly or indirectly reflects political struggle and civil rights activism right up to this month.
You’ll hear music played, sung or composed by Mongezi Feza, Hugh Masekela, Mavis Staples, Ezra Furman, John Coltrane, Miriam Makeba, Mandla Mlangeni, David Marks, Roger Lucey, Tierney Sutton, Ry Cooder, Darren English, Shabaka and the Ancestors, Tutu Puoane, Abbey Lincoln, Kyle Shepherd and more.
If you are running a business, lockdown has been incredibly difficult for you. In order to help your business to survive post lockdown it is important that your potential clients are aware of your products and services.
To help build your brand Bush Radio has announced special advertising packages for small businesses and startups. With a large audience reach and specialist programmes we are ideally suited for your advertising campaigns.
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.
The media in South Africa commemorates the 41st anniversary of the infamous “Black Wednesday” which happened on the 19 October 1977, The World and Weekend World newspapers and several organisations were banned.
We have come a long way to media freedom in this country. Being Africa’s oldest community radio station project, which at one stage faced the full wrath of the apartheid government, we feel it is our duty and responsibility to promote accurate and fair reporting.
Bush Radio does not have the resources to be a “breaking news” station, but it is our duty to be accurate and give our listeners an opportunity to make up their own minds. This however can only happen if we present all sides of any argument, through good research and having access to role-players like politicians on a local, provincial and national level – this is proving harder and harder as officials simply refuse to comment or respond to questions from our newsroom and producers.
We call on all role-players who have an interest in improving the lives of the people on the Cape Flats to be accessible, especially to community media who truly speak and represent the people of Cape Town. It is only by engaging on the hard questions that we can truly claim to be improving the lives of citizens – and being a platform where people and audience can engage with political and social leaders. Thereby learning, healing and growing this wonderful city.
As a place where many young journalists start in their careers, we call upon our audience to hold us accountable and engage with us around our reporting and broadcasts.
Background on Black Wednesday:
On this day in 1977 in South Africa, then Minister of Justice Jimmy Kruger, banned The World and Weekend World newspapers by stating that these publications were “publishing inflammatory material that threatened the nation’s security” and the paper’s editor Percy Qoboza and other journalists were arrested and jailed.
19 organisations were also banned and apartheid critics were detained.
The organisations banned were BPC, SASO, Black Community Programmes, Black Parents Association, Black Women’s Federation, Border Youth Organisation, Eastern Province Youth Organisation, Medupe Writers Association, Natal Youth Organisation, National Youth Organisation, SASM, Soweto Students Representative Council, Soweto Teachers Action Committee, Transvaal Youth Organisation, Union of Black Journalists, Western Cape Youth Organisation, Zimele Trust Fund, Association for the Educational and Cultural Advancement of African People of South Africa.
Banning orders were also served on Beyers Naude and journalist Donald Woods.
Yesterday as part of our regular Wednesday staff development session, Bush Radio members went to Parliament to check out the Right2Know’s Camp-Out for Openess and take part in the teach-in that was running at that time.
TVA (The Villianous Animators) - Mantis, Mak1 and Falko preparing a piece on the Bush Radio building
In 2002 in response to a proposed by-law and media reports (see: Cape Town vows to rub out graffiti artists) on the outlawing of graffiti in Cape Town, Bush Radio and members of the Hip Hop community organised several protests to highlight their concerns.
One of the protests involved creating a piece on the Bush Radio building.
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.
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