Machika Jerry Rantsho (The Village Child)

  Community radio stations should be improved to benefit all the members of our communities Since the born of Media Development Diversity Agency (MDDA), we have seen the mushrooming of radio stations in our communities. The MDDA was set up by an Act of Parliament (Act 14 of 2002) to enable “Historically disadvantaged communities and persons not adequately served by the media” to gain access to the media. Its beneficiaries will be community media and small commercial media. One amongst the ways in which MDDA can achieve all these objectives is: To encourage the  channeling  of resources to community and small commercial media. Now, those who have been to our community radio stations like me can attest that if not all the community radio stations but some, do not comply with all that is said in the MDDA documents with regards to how radio stations should include communities in some of their decisions.   I have done my Work Integrated Learning (WIL) at a community radio...

  Ga-Phaahla- In celebration of heritage month, Kgoshi Letsiri Phaahla, from Ga Phaahla area narrates the history of unknown tree, believed to be planted by the late 1 st  chief Makadikwe Phaahla in around 1610. According to Letsiri, the late chief Makadikwe Phaahla had an abnormal protruding belly and he was terrorised and tormented by his community at Madibong village back in the days until he got angry and secretly decided to leave his tribe, headed north to seek assistance from any community he could come across. Letsiri said the late Makadikwe wanted to be assisted to wipe all Phaahla men because they were unfairly terrorised him. “The late Makadikwe walked for months without meeting any community until he crossed Limpopo River in Zimbabwe where he met Karanga tribe. On his arrival, Makadikwe explained his situation to Karanga tribe. “He promised Karanga tribe livestocks owned by Phaahla tribe only if they could assist him in Killing men who tormented and terrorised him f...

If asked to name a South African Sangoma, most people would mention Credo Mutwa, a world renowned traditional healer, aouther and a philosopher. He had forseen a number of historic events including the assasination of John Fitzegerald Kennedy, Hendrik Verwoerd and Chris Hani. but he was modest about it all. "I am not special. There are men and women who came before me in this regard," he once told a TV host when he was asked about his unusual gift of seeing into the crystal ball. He had famously predicted the June 16 1976 student uprisings, but what's not well-known is that he was gracious enough to reveal that there were other people who predicted the watershed event-peers and pupils who all lived in Soweto at the time. Incidentally, all three women- Lillian, Mateilari Teka and Dorcas Danisa. He described the latter as "two of the best sangomas in the group of healers and deviners of which I am the ritual leader". In his book, Let Not My Country die, ...

machikajerry0105@gmail.com                           @Tokologo_JR Human rights day is celebrated on 21 March , in remembrance of the Shapeville massacre which took place on 21 March 1960. This massacre occurred as a result of protests against the apartheid regime in South Africa, the Sharpeville massacre was a turning point in the history of South Africa, on 21 March 1960 without warning South African police of Sharpeville, an African township of Vereeneging South of Johannesburg shot into a crowd of about 5000 unarmed anti-pass protesters, killing at least 69 people- many of the shot in the back and wounding more than 200. This massacre created a crisis for the apartheid government inside the country and internationally. The government immediately declared a state of emergency and  banned Political meetings. Within less than a month, it banned both the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) whic...

Let’s Talk Frankly: Letters of influential to South Africans about the state of our nation. South Africa has been in a grip of worrying culture of acquiesce and silence after 1994. Such silence is largely driven by patronage and a misplaced sense of loyalty, to party politics in a political spectrum. It is clear that speaking out has been left to a few voices that are seen as having nothing to lose. This situation has seen a culture of debating degenerating. The addresses of the letters are South African people of influence who are called upon to their public presence and role to change the course of events in society and improve the level of public discourse. They receive praise for work well done and are castigated for poor judgement and omission in their public life and deliberations. The book ‘Let’s talk Frankly’ expresses some home truths in a satirical and tongue-in-cheek manner and is meant to offend sensibilities as well as things that people often say around dinner ta...

TRUE CRIME is a sophisticated crime thriller that takes time to delve into its lead character, CLINT EASTWOOD, who promptly turns out to be very much like the Eastwood character we've already seen in a dozen or so films--boozy, insolent , direct, and relentless when he's on the trail of a killer or playing detective with everyday citizens. The tittle of the film is called THE TRUE CRIME. The true crime is directed by Clint Eastwood as Steve Everett and the other cast members are as follows Frank Louis, Denis leary, Lisa Gray Hamilton, Allan Maan, Kate Everett and etc. True Crime is a 1999 American mystery directed by Clint Eastwood, and based on Andrew Klavan’'s 1995 novel of the same name. Eastwood also stars in the film as a journalist covering the execution of a death row inmate, only to discover that the convict may actually be innocent.