Voices from SA

At the age of fourteen Obakeng won a scholarship to the prestigious Bishop's School in Cape Town and his life changed forever.

Since then he has studied for his A-levels at the African Leadership Academy in Johannesburg and later this year he begins a degree in economics in the USA. He is a busy young man. 

Obakeng is an advocate for access to quality education and an ethical public service. He plans to go into government once he has finished his studies as he says he has seen too many friends let down one or another but non-functioning state institutions.

But what a cool young man. We chatted about the need to transform the way we think about education in South Africa, the way teach, and the role of schools in their communities. 

He also spoke about the importance of involving parents education, and the importance of teachers who are inspiring and committed beyond simply teaching the curriculum.

Obakeng also spoke about the experience of private schools and how that process detached him in a way from his childhood friends and experience

We also spoke abut the the current political system in South Africa and the need for better civic and voter education in  so people understand better how the political system works, and how they can make it work for them.

John Clarke has been working with the Xolobeni community and the Amadiba Crisis Committee for more than a decade in the fight against proposed mining operations by Australian mining company MRC.

In this episode John gives an update to the ongoing legal struggles being waged by the Xolobeni community. We also chatted about the state of the world, Jethro Tull and butterflies.

John is a man with a calling and it is inspiring to hear him talk about the possibilities of finding a balance between humans, nature and technology.

Become a patron and support the growth of Voices from SA here.

Zubeda is a founder, and the director of the Nisaa Institute for Women's Development. The organisation has the goal of "enabling women and children to live in a world free of violence." Nisaa was formed in April 1994. She is also the Executive Head of the National Shelter Movement.

In our discussion Zubeda gives a sobering and gritty picture of what it is like working on the front line of the struggle against gender and domestic violence. And we get a sense of the immense work, the thankless and extremely stressful work that is done by social workers, counselors and other members  of this vast and unsung network of NPOs and NGOs that work in this field across South Africa.

What is startlingly clear is that the government response even at the most basic levels, and that of business for that matter, is sorely lacking.

Go here for more information about Nisaa

Bertha  is an entrepreneur with interests in the Energy, Transport, Telecommunications and Management Consulting Sectors, delivering solutions and systems for utilities.

She is also the President of an NPO, "Women in Electricty and Power" that, quoting from her linkedin profile, aims “ to accelerate the participation of African Women Entrepreneurs in the full value chain of Power and Energy in Africa, and contribute towards addressing the continent’s energy poverty.”

We had a great discussion about the importance of mentors in the early stages of her career, affirmative action, some of the challenges facing entrepreneurs in South Africa, and her hopes and dreams for "Women in Electricity and Power", and her belief that women can transform this and many other sectors of the economy across the continent, given the right tools and support.

This is Frank's third appearance on the podcast. Frank is a former trade unionist and I turn to him when I am looking for a fresh perspective on things. 

He is incredibly well connected and has some interesting things to say about South Africa and its prospects for the future.

We covered a number of areas including the state of the civil service, he reflected on his time working closely with now President Ramaphosa during the struggle against apartheid, the need for trade unions to become more engaged in the debate on economic policy, and some of the things he would do to turn the economy around. Infrastructure, housing and tourism were some of the sectors he suggested would benefit from state investment.

Richard is better know to South Africans as journalist at large for the Daily Maverick where he  writes under nom de plume Trainspotter. 

He is recognized  for his acerbic wit, biting satire and razor sharp observations that have infuriated and amazed in equal measure over the last ten years.

I pitched the discussion as a look at the year ahead and what 2020 night hold for South Africa and its people. Turns out quite a lot. And according to Richard there is not a lot to look forward to. At least in the short term. He says South Africa is facing multiple existential threats.

We chatted about a number of things including the civil war racking the ANC, the parlous state of the main opposition parties, and the collapse of Eskom the state-owned power utility. 

Our discussion did place South Africa in a global context of a post-truth, late-stage capitalism reality where norms of political behavior and activism are being re-written every day.

Richard also give some background to the documentary film he has directed together with Dianne Neille, Influence, which takes an in depth look at the rise and fall of PR firm Bell Pottinger. The film will premiere at the Sundance film Festival on January 23.

Read Richard on Helen Zille and the DA here.

I had Ebrahim on the podcast earlier this year in the build-up to the national elections. This time he is on the podcast to review some of the significant political events of 2019.

We initially had the idea of looking at the elections, the Zondo Commission and South Africa and the BRICS.

In the wake of a week of rolling blackouts, we were forced to discuss the state of the power utility ESKOM as a metaphor for the state of our politics. This, in turn, led to a discussion not only about corruption and mismanagement but also the role of consulting firms in the chaos at SOE's. 

We spent some time as well discussing the broad failure of our political parties to work for the good for the nation and not their own welfare.

Ebrahim also gives his political highlight of the year.

He also does not have much hope that the Zondo Commission will lead to any high-level prosecutions.

Professor Jane Duncan is the Head of the Department of Journalism, Film and TV at the University of Johannesburg. She is one of the founders of the Media Policy and Democracy Project and the author of several books inluding "The Rise of the Securocrats" which looks at the growing role of the security services in government policy in South Africa. She has also written extensively about the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution. She is a skeptic.

We discussed a number of issues including the privatisation of public surveillance, surveillance capitalism in general and the gap between policy and technology.

Prof Duncan is also keen that South African plays a more active role in spreading our freedoms to the rest of the world to ensure an internet that is open and accessible to all the citizens of the world.

Read more about the Media Policy and Democracy Project here.

Contract for the Web

Nomanzi PalesaShongwe is a filmmaker and teacher.  Her short film uNomalanga and the Witch won Best Short Film at the Durban International Film Festival (2015), and The Baobab Short Film Prize at Film Africa, UK (2016).  It has nearly 500 00 views on youtube 

 

Nomanzi grew up in Johannesburg  She abandoned her law studies to embark on a career in film. A short film submission led to being awarded a Fulbright Scholarship and she completed a Masters of fine arts in film making at Temple University in Philadelphia. Most recently she was a lecturer at the Wits University Film School.

 

She met Presidents Clinton and Obama as part of different South African delegations to the USA and we chatted about the changing US attitude to the USA over the years. 

 

We had a wide-ranging discussion that ranged from her high school years at Parktown Girls High School that straddled the early years of our democracy and the pressure to assimilate that is still being felt by many young professionals in particular today.

Nomanzi also spoke about the process and aesthetics film-making and what she wants to achieve in her films.

As her bio puts it she "is interested in narratives that focus on the lives of women in the context of a feminist and decolonial African filmmaking".

Watch uNomalanga and the Witch here.

Muitheri Wahome has been working in the field of asset management since moving to South Africa from Kenya in 1995. She is currently writing a book about the history of asset management in South Africa.

After visiting SA for the first time after the elections in 1994, Muitheri moved to South Africa from Kenya in 1995 to study for an MBA. So she has experienced the ups and downs of post-apartheid South Africa as both a Kenyan and a "new" South African and has some interesting things to say about this experience.

She says it is good to take stock of how far we have come in a short time. We spoke a lot about how much has changed particularly within the field of asset management, but also that more needs to be done to transform business overall

Muitheri says businesses must create an environment conducive and supportive of transformation. She talks about the importance of enabling environment that looks beyond simply ticking boxes.