Ruth First fellows deconstruct the youth, violence and rage

The rage of the youth of South Africa was the focus of the two papers presented at the 15th annual Ruth First memorial lecture in the Wits Great Hall on Wednesday August 17.

Ruth First Fellows, Nolwazi Tusini, 28, and Lwandile Fikeni, 32 used contemporary student protests and the assimilation of Black children into white schools in the 80s as the lens through which they explored expressions of violence and rage.

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2016 Carlos Cardoso Memorial Lecture

To be delivered by Bob Rugurika of Radio Publique Africaine, Burundi

Rugurika: ‘If we give up, this world will deteriorate.’

As a student at Wits, Carlos Cardoso was deported to Mozambique in 1974 because of his support for the Frelimo government. He became a journalist, and while investigating political and financial fraud, he was assassinated in Maputo on 22 November 2000.

Bob Rugurika (38) is an investigative journalist and the director of the private and independent radio station Radio Publique Africaine (RPA) in Burundi. It frequently broadcasts information viewed as critical of the government, including detailed accounts of alleged human rights abuses and financial scandals.

The most recent investigation looked into the murder of three Italian nuns. The station broadcasted an interview in which a guest claimed to be involved in the murder of the nuns and implicated several intelligence and police officers in the murders. After refusing to say where the guest was located, Rugurika was arrested on January 19, 2015 and held for one month. He was charged with complicity in murder and breach of public solidarity. Rugurika was forced into exile after his release and continues to work as a journalist from Rwanda.

In the past years, Burundi has seen a shrinking media space, coupled with a government crackdown on the independent press. Rugurika’s arrest forms part of a pattern of government attacks on freedom of expression, particularly targeting journalists, activists, and members of political parties.

DATE: 8 November 2016

TIME: 4.30 pm Reception, 5.30 pm Lecture

VENUE: TBC

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Scholarship at Wits Journalism/China-Africa Reporting Project for 2017

The China-Africa Reporting Project is offering one full scholarship for an African journalism graduate to undertake an honours or masters degree at Wits Journalism in 2017. The scholarship will include flights to/from Johannesburg, accommodation at Wits, and a monthly stipend to cover other expenses.

The successful candidate will also join the team of the China-Africa Reporting Project and support our activities as far as possible.

The opportunity is open to persons aged between 20 and 35 from any African country, and applications addressing all the points below must be forwarded to [email protected] by no later than September 25, 2016 (online applications at Wits Journalism close at the end of September), in an email with the heading “APPLICATION: WITS JOURNALISM SCHOLARSHIP 2017”.

Applications must be contain the following:

• Applicant CV, including academic qualifications and list of previous China-Africa publications (if any)
• Applicant short personal bio explaining personal interest in the China-Africa field and personal skills and research that can be offered to the China-Africa Reporting Project during the scholarship, as well as indication of whether Honours or Masters degree is applied for

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Law Focus – Black Lives Matter (Playlist)

We look at Black Lives Matter and the criminalization of black bodies in New York with senior journalist at the Wits Justice Project-Ruth Hopkins. Hopkins spent some time in New York researching the Black Lives Matter movement and the criminal justice system.

We then check in with Corruption Watch’s Kavisha Pillay about the on-going process to appoint a new Public Protector. Adv. Busisiwe Mkhwebane is the candidate selected by the ad hoc committee to stand before the National Assembly.

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The Science Inside – Transport

For petrolheads and science nerds alike, this week’s show gets into all things cars following the petrol strike. Elna looks at the past and future of electric cars and drives a South African made prototype with Winstone Jordaan from Gridcars.

Dr Mathetha Mokonyama from the CSIR talks to us about how public transport systems get designed.Our weekly tech bite discusses straddle buses and superfast transport.

And Distinguished Professor Emile van Zyl from the Biofuel Research Chair at the University of Stellenbosch speaks to us about biofuel and how the future might be more vegetable, less coal.

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The Business Buzz - Nthabeleng Likotsi

Our Brand New Heavy on The Business Buzz is driven by the possibilities of exposing young South Africans to business opportunities. This has seen her creating a cooperative financial institution which aims to support black entrepreneurs.

Nthabeleng Likotsi, the founder and executive chairperson of Young Women in Business Network Holdings, started her own bank after growing it from a humble savings club. She shares her inspiring entrepreneurial journey on this week’s show.

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The Right2Know Campaign seeks a Campaign Organiser

The Right2Know Campaign is an umbrella group of organisations and activists campaigning to advance the free flow of information in South Africa. R2K is looking for a talented activist and campaigner to become the new Organiser on our campaigns to ensure media and internet freedom, media transformation, and access to telecommunications.

This is an opportunity to work with committed activists around the country to support popular campaigns that have a real impact on the challenges facing South Africa at this critical period in our democracy.

Ideally this person should have a grasp of a range of issues related to communication rights including:

• Freedom of Expression, including online and media freedom;
• The state of South African media transformations, in particular issues relating to diversity of media ownership;
• Access to telecommunications in South Africa, in particular broadband access and the cost of data and airtime.

Click here to apply