Freedom Is Using Media To Describe South Africa Accurately Media provide the marker of how free and equal a nation is, and our media have fallen short. By Okhule Dotwana
I
grew up in a tranquil, affluent suburb with lots of trees, lots of space and lots of anything I wanted. I have a mother. I have a father. They are married. They are university graduates from Fort Hare. One has an LLM (Master of Laws) and the other a BA Honours. My parents, four siblings, nephew and I live in the same house. It is a beautiful house, with a sparkling swimming pool that my 6-year-old nephew loves. He had a dog called Puppy, but someone stole it. Three siblings and I are university graduates, and one is a university graduate-in-the-making. My reality could be something out of a Kathy and Mark book. In fact, including the stolen dog, it’s exactly like the Kathy and Mark books. However, in Kathy and Mark books it is not black people who are living this reality. When I was in grade one. I had a kind teacher who loved to hug us and pinch our cheeks. At a chosen time every week, she would stand in front of the class with her lovely Johnson’s Baby Powder smell and her ample gold bracelets tinkling and announce that it’s time to practice reading and writing, and we would delve into the world of Kathy and Mark. They were a white American brother and sister who lived a privileged life. Then, after reading about their adventures, we
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Reflections on Freedom 2013
would write it out in our workbooks. This was 1996, only two years after South Africa’s first democratic elections. So I understand why a class of black children were still inundated with images of affluent white people, and black people who only come into the picture when white people needed to have their houses cleaned. We were still just coming into our democracy; new books had not been written and printed. More pressing issues were on the new government’s agenda. Sixteen years later, I am a university student. It makes me happy … actually, not happy … Let’s say satisfied. Happy suggests that the work is complete, while satisfied acknowledges that some strides have been made, but we have a long way to go. I am satisfied that some books show images of black people. Back then, common images of black people included the maid who cleans the house and looks after the children, the gardener who is quite old, but the white children call him by his first name anyway, and the handyman with “shifty eyes,” a “dishonest demeanour” and “lightning quick fingers” who will steal if no one is watching over him. We endured all manner of ignorant and racist representations. Today, I am satisfied. I would be happy if present-day media, would reflect a broad spectrum of the realities of all black people in South Africa. The major visual medium in South Africa is television. More people watch TV than read books — sometimes because of access and other times because of preference. Albeit much more subtle, historical representations are still evident in programming on South African television. It is almost as though the SABC channels (for which viewers do not need to pay extra) have made it a mission to reject as many positive (and realistic) representations of black South Africans as they possibly can. I have lost count of the number of times I have switched off SABC 1 (which ironically, is aimed at black people) because of the
disheartening and disgusting way black people are represented. This particular channel prides itself on being the voice of black youth in South Africa. Most of the programming focuses on black people who live in townships (or “Kasi” as they are affectionately called by SABC 1). In programs such as Zone 14, Generations and Tshisa (all SABC 1), it is common to find that black South Africans now have no future and are not interested in intellectual pursuits such as reading or going to school. They have been raised by a single mother. A typical South African does not know who his or her father is or have a good relationship with him. It is someone whose family members are dying every day thanks to HIV. It is someone whose mother sells alcohol to make a living (affectionately known as a shebeen queen) and who lives in a matchbox-size house with many other people. It is a female who sleeps around and whose highest aspiration is to marry a sugar daddy. It is a man who likes getting drunk, getting into fights in which someone gets killed. Eighteen years into our freedom as black South Africans, these are the prevailing images about us. Clearly, some of these images are a reality for many black South Africans. Many are living in matchbox-size houses with many family members. Many are dying as a result of AIDS. Many are being raised by single mothers. And some among us get into drunken fights or marry men for their money. My concern with South African media is that they suggest black people should be PROUD of such a life. This is evident in the way