Journo blog

  Will the Bokkes take the cup home again? By Qaqamba Matundu Photo :Internet  The rugby world cup 2023 started on the 8 th of September and is expected to end later this month, the 28 th of October. South Africans are head over heels supporting the Springboks that are playing excellently, making the country proud. A great victory by the team after a very tough match with France left South Africans feeling like the country has won the world cup already. After the match Siya Kolisi, the Springbok captain said, “We crumbled a lot especially when we were short of numbers. It was a tough game, it flowed, it was tough, physical, the way both teams played outshone everything.” ApNews said, “France played all the attacking for the first hour and the crowd loved it, leaving South Africans to feed of crumbs and cling on before suddenly swinging the momentum in the final 13 minutes when lock Eben Elzbeth made up for an earlier yellow card by barging over near the posts.” B...

Summer maize ploughing seemed impossible for Misty Mount residents By Qaqamba Matundu Photo by Qaqamba Matundu   December is a month that most people in the Eastern Cape use to plant maize because, summer is best known to be a great season for plants to blossom nicely with the help of sun, but due to climate change that has been ongoing the past years things are no longer the same. December is dominated by extreme heat. Misty Mount is a small disadvantaged rural area in Mthatha in the Eastern Cape with no job opportunities. People survive only by farming and now it’s difficult to make a living because everything is dying including livestock. The scorching sun makes the soil to be hard rock. Mzoxolo Ndiki, one of Misty Mount residents affected by climate change said, “Last year I asked a tractor to come plough for me since it was that period of maize, but it took weeks for it to finally manage because the soil was very dry. I then planted what later became waste because ev...

  South African unemployment crisis By Qaqamba Matundu Unemployment rate lessened to 32,7% in quarter 4 of 2022 from 32,9% in quarter 3, 0,2% quarter 3 to quarter 4 in 2022. “Statistics South Africa said 169 000 jobs were gained between Q3 and Q4, while the number of unemployed persons increased by 28 000 to 7,8 million.” Says Storm Simpson, reporter from The South African. According to Politicsweb industries like finance (103 000), private household (54 000), trade (52 000) and transport (43 000) recorded the largest job gains. Job loses were recorded in community and social services (122 000), agriculture (12 000) and construction (12 000). The formal sector recorded an increase in employment of 143 000 and the informal sector recorded a loss in employment of 155 000 between the Q3 and Q4 of 2022. “South Africa’s unemployment rate remains sky high and the best that can be said about terrible situation is that the ...

 

  Don’t be a victim of scammers! By Qaqamba Matundu Figure 1: Don’t be a victim. Photo: Internet Marketing and Communication Department at Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) is alerting people that might be desperate for school and place to stay of active scammers that roam around during the time of applications. Like everyone, applicants can fall victim to a scam. It is important you know how to spot signs of scam and most effective methods to protect yourself. Protecting your personal information helps on protecting you and your money. Scamming is something that happens every year with all universities. It has been reported that CPUT has opened its first late application window. The university receives thousands of applications and can only accept a certain number of qualifying applicants. Many people out there know how frustrating this period is and prey on desperate people in need of school, that is why the university is urging people to be alert. It is imp...

 

Responsibilities of journalists during election time By Qaqamba Matundu Media organisations and journalists plays a vital role in the electoral process by assuring the dissemination of news and diverse opinions. Media makes possible deeper knowledge of candidates, parties and their programs. Journalists contribute to the effective participation of citizens in democratic debate, especially by ensuring that issue of public interest remain at the centre of election campaign.  Reports as “Journalists must resist the pressure of their own opinion which they should express in the privacy of voting station, like any other citizen. They are expected to treat all politicians impartially regardless of the sympathies or antipathies they may feel towards them. A professional work of journalism must be accurate, verified, balanced, neutral and respectful of human dignity. Journalists must have rights to provide information without being pressured or threatened, bring with it the duty to provide...

Does NSFAS need to increase allowance? By Qaqamba Matundu With prices of everything increasing in South Africa. The cost of living is high. Students are the ones suffering the most with the “little” allowance they get. “Over fifty thousand people, many of whom are university students have signed a petition imploring Minister of Higher Education Blade Nzimande and National Students Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) to increase their allowance. They want the current allowance of R1,500 to be increased to R2000 to accommodate the increase cost of essentials like groceries and toiletries.” Says Enoch Many students across the country come from unprivileged homes whereby they do not get any allowance from parents. It is not easy for students to afford everything as they need to buy food , toiletries and others do not qualify to get transport money, so they also use some of the money for transport to school. Students come from different provinces far away from their home, they are on their own. Ma...

Why are people not voting? Qaqamba Matundu Many people do not vote because they believe they don’t understand enough about the  government, the election process or individual party policies. Others have less interest on  politics and supporting a political party, so they believe their votes will go to waste if they  vote so they decide not to. “The 2021 local government elections had low voter turnout since the advent of democracy  in South Africa. There are 26.2 million registered voters in South Africa however 42.6 million  people are eligible to do so with over 40% of them choosing not to. IEC Chief Electoral  Officer Sy Mamabolo said that this could be blamed on several factors including Covid-19  pandemic” says EWN reporter Mahlakoana South Africa is not alone in facing declining voter participation. Internationally, this is a trend  that has been documented since the 1990s. Nonetheless, falling turnout is a critical  barometer of the he...

 The Marikana massacre relevance today and South Africans obligement to view the award-winning documentary. By Qaqamba Matundu The killing of 34 miners by the police at Marikana in August 2012 was the largest massacre at civilians in South Africa since Sharpeville massacre. The event has been covered in newspapers articles, on tv news and in commission of inquiry but the is still confusion of what happened on that fateful day’. (Tshetlo,2019). Today that event is relevantnt because, that incident happened under the constitutional democracy and the strikers were shot by the government workers, the South African Police Service (SAPS). This event came after the conflict of wages. ‘The strike was for wage increase and to address the poor living conditions of miners and their families in Marikana. These problems were not formally addressed by NUM or by Lonmin during the strike many of the strikers instead began losing their jobs and protesters were met unrelenting hostility by the secur...

The purpose of this video is to address mental health issues. Stigma is an extreme barrier to those needing mental treatment. My goal is to destigmatize mental health issues. Both men and women get affected by mental health issues but it is always overlooked on males. It goes untreated because they are not likely to seek treatment so depression and suicide are one of the causes of death on men. Those experiencing mental health issues are often considered weak, broken and not strong enough. I also spoke about toxic masculinity-traditional cultural norms of how a man is supposed to behave. Again, on the video I spoke about ways on how to deal with mental health issues, this includes counselling and benefits of it. Counselors do not judge, they sit there and listen to your stories, offer comfort and console you. Secondly talking to people about your feelings especially those you trust or family members helps , avoid alcohol and other drugs, drinking is not a good way to manage difficu...

 The land question in South Africa By Qaqamba Matundu The background on the issue of the land reform in South Africa is as follows, it has been said that the original sin of apartheid was dispossession of land in 1913 by the means of legislation –the Native Land Act -by the government at the time, which created a system of land ownership that deprived most South Africans of the right to own land. It resulted in most of the land being held by the white minority, while the black population -including colored and Indian communities were dispossessed of their land. The Act restricted people of color from buying or occupying land and over time, most of these people were relocated to ‘homelands and townships. As a result, breadwinners were often forced to look for work far away from their homes which led to range of related socio-economic problems. Despite the Act being repealed in 1991, the land reform process has been slow and, in many cases, ineffective, leaving many still landless an...

 Reuters Journalism By Qaqamba Matundu The 10 fundamentals of journalism practices in Reuters includes accuracy which is a central norm in journalism and is at the heart of journalistic practice. The history of accuracy is closely related to other central concepts in journalism like truthfulness, factuality, and credibility because it raises epistemological questions of whether and how journalism is capable of depicting reality accurately, truthfully and based on facts. Accuracy plays a particularly significant role in the factuality of the journalists not only to ground their reporting on facts but check whether the presented facts are true or not. Accuracy is an important standard to determine the quality of the news reporting. Perceives report as “In journalistic capacity, making mistakes are not good. Your mistake can be a typo or some oversight that may be seen insignificant, words matter, and words have consequences. The only ethical option would be to address the mistake, m...

  Who has influence on the media By Qaqamba Matundu When it comes to who has the influence on the media, journalists, and what stories to appear in the media in South Africa, it has been reported that "The government has been able to keep media wrapped around its finger since the beginning of media. This can lead to unfair advantage in a political race between parties that are making campaigns that are running the other reputation with, for all we know, false information. The public has even been known to have a change in opinions after watching or reading a source from the media. The government has learnt how to persuade everyone, which is why our voices are more important than ever in our generation. The government is taking control of the media making it harder for individuals to form valid opinions without it being influenced." (ukessays,2018) Perceives report as ''In August 2017 came an announcement that the former government spokesperson and so called ...

 South Africa’s June 2022 Consumer Price Index By Qaqamba Matundu Consumer price inflation raced to 7.4% in June from 6.5% in May, 1,1% month-on-month in June 2022. “This is the highest reading since January 2017 when the rate was 6.6%, with inflation now higher than the upper limit of the South African Reserve Bank’s monetary policy target range of 6%, pointing to further interest rate hikes in July” says BusinessTech. Consequently, the trend pointed up mildly, with annual average inflation coming in at 5.7% in June (May: 5.5%). Lastly, core inflation rose to 4.4% in June, from May’s 4.1%. The result was driven by rising prices for housing and utilities and transportation says focus economics. Food and non-alcoholic beverages increased by 8.6% year-on-year and contributed 1.5 percentage points to the total CPI annual rate of 7.4%, said Stats SA. Stats SA chief director for price statistics Patrick Kelly said if annual consumer inflation is recalculated without including food and n...

 Covering elections: Are journalists safe? By Qaqamba Matundu Democracy always rests on the rights to freely express diverse opinions and on the votes of well informed citizens. Media organizations and journalists play a vital role in the electoral process by assuring the dissemination of news and diverse opinions. Media makes deeper knowledge of candidates, parties and their programs. Journalists contribute to the effective participation of citizens in democratic debate by ensuring that issues of public interest remain at the center of election campaigns. This article is all about dealing in with challenges that can prevent a journalism to cover news during election times and whether or not do I believe journalists have to be card-carrying especially those coverings politics and elections. During an election time period, a journalist encounters multiple pressures. They may come from government especially in countries which democracy remains fragile; from political parties, which ...

  Media Ethics By Qaqamba Matundu Journalistic ethics are common values that guide reporters. They lay out both the aspirations and obligations that journalists, editors and others working in the field should follow to execute their work responsibly. Now what are ethics? According to a report I read by Andrews George, ethics is a study of what is right or wrong in human conduct. I believe ethics governs the way people behave when doing something for example, last week I was playing a board game called 30 seconds with my classmates. The game governs us on how to behave and act as we conduct the play. You do not do as you do please, same thing applies on journalism. Both morality and ethics loosely have to do with distinguishing the difference between “good and bad” or “right and wrong”, but there is a difference between the two. Morality describes the principle that governs our behavior. Without these principles in place, societies cannot survive for long. Law accordi...