Journo blog

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 ...