Calling it the "Free education in our lifetime" march. The South African Student Congress from the Durban University of Technology along with other branches recently marched from Lewis Botha Gardens to Durbans City Hall in an effort to make government aware of their organisations intentions.

Some found it ironic that such an organisation whose students would march for such a cause, when some of it members spend more years than the three required to graduate, with others not graduating at all.

Wendy Ngcobo commenting on student representives who are not graduating and the image their send to other students.

From students to politicians in school

From students to politicians in school

Posting this question on Facebook “Its a trend we need not look far to witness, when a student comes to university to study but ends up being heavily involved in student politics, they studies suffering heavily in the process. WHAT IS YOUR VIEW ON OUR UNIVERSITY POLITICIANS WHO ARE JUST NOT GRADUATING AND MOVING ON FROM IT?”

I wanted to find out more on my subject on why students who are part of the SRC and end up being heavily involved in student organisations which are politically aligned are just not graduating or spending years in tertiary institutions for just one diploma.

It’s a trend we all see; our institution the Durban University of Technology is just not immune to such. We have become so use to our SRC leaders striking outside the classroom forcing students to stop going to class which always end up in the university having to shut down its gates until calm and order is restored.

What are these student “leaders” doing? Why are they not in class or is it just a reputation that is what they are made up of?

During my investigation I will answer all these questions, with the help of social media and the immence platform it has to offer.

When all is said and done...Reflecting back.

When we were presented with the assignment I was very happy and enthusiastic about the topic and the brief we received.  The topic at hand required us to delve deeper into the world of refugees using a person or organisation, I was of cause a little hesitant about it as I was afraid of going into the world of a refugee.

For my first interviewee I headed straight to the refugee home affairs centre on Che Guevara Road formally known as Moore Road, searching for a subject to interview. After asking around a while and many “No sorry” Bornface Chakadeya agreed. Born in Zimbabwe the young 20 year old is almost my age and yet our experiences couldn’t be further from what one would normally expect from a young man this age. After agreeing to talk to me his brother walked in the middle of the interview changing the mood, Bornface told me his brother had warned him not to talk too much. This change the whole mood and it suddenly dawned to me that I, along with countless others who come seeking interviews from foreign nationals are not trusted by the majority of foreigners whether displaced or otherwise.

I found it particularly challenging turning Bornface story into a hard news piece. When I was starting my second piece I believed that every story relating and touching the core of refugees could be covered. However I ended up being confused with many ideas on what we should do seemed to come from all sides from my classmates, when I finally knew what to cover. The confusion on my behalf led me to find the task very daunting. By the time I had to compile my package the edit suits converted my video and audio into shortcuts, I then cleaned the shortcuts only to find my video had converted itself into audio only not showing any picture. The video is now stataring instead of nmoving. This became a very very frustrating process which I do not wish to repeat again.

Overall I enjoyed the topic but not the entire process of executing the brief and the topic.

A protester holding up a poster during the Congolese nationals strike at Botha Garden last month.

Picture by: Charity Shezi

Related stories links:

http://sfbayview.com/2012/congolese-say-south-africas-congolese-immigrant-sweep-targeted-anti-kabila-refugees/

http://mg.co.za/article/2012-02-20-king-zwelithini-lambastes-unacceptable-drc-protests

The DA was no where in sight

Thousands of people across the country painted the major cities red with no blue in sight in support of the march. DA party leader Helen Zille and Idols judge and radio personality Gareth Cliff had different views concerning the march on Twitter.

Zille says despite the DA supporting Cosatu on it stand on doing away with the e-tolling system, it could not put its support to the banning of labour brokers. Zille was alert responding to a tweet which accused white people from not being part of the march, Pinky Khaobane tweeting “Dear white citizen. You’re talk & no action apart from court challenges. No white people against etolls,” Zille responded by tweeting “so, what do you plan to say to 100’s and 1000’s of contract workers who lose their jobs when Cosatu bans labour broking?’’. The leader also tweeted that “Cosatu wants a ban on all contract work. That will leave millions unemployed, Not with better jobs”  Zille also re-tweeted  a tweet stating “#Cosatu is lk a dude w/a  morbidly obese person and then moans when said person steals all the blankets.”

The radio personality had a far more different view from the main opposition’s party leader. By tweeting in the early hours of Wednesday morning “Are you striking today? #Defiance #eTolling wear comfortable shoes. I’ll see you there.” And later “To more important things…Time to strike #etolling #COSATU”  the idols judge who appeared in court for speeding oand reckless or negligent driving before joining the march re-tweeted a tweet by Nelson Mandela’s executive personal assistant Zelda la Grange which said “Anyone complaining about today’s march clearly earns too much money and doesn’t pay enough tax!”  Cliff also tweeted this morning that the strike shows how South Africans  have had enough, urging government to take note.

Whats in it for the new media graduate?

Criticising every media company she mentioned except the Mail and Guardian Gill Moodie says it is most likely that those journalism graduates who are mad about new media will find themselves not utilising there gained skills if they were to find themselves working for newspapers newsroom.

Having looked at Avusa’s Sunday Times-Times Live website, I found it to be of reasonable standard and at pretty much the same level as the praised Mail and Guardian. Sunday Times has more stories to offer and different varieties such as the review section and business all in there page, which one might find interesting depending on ones taste of news, while the Mail and Guardian has fewer stories compared to the other.

Media24’s News24 website has always intrigued me the way it is designs makes for one to want to click on the news it is not too formal like the Sunday Times and Mail and Guardian. The way the pictures and adverts are all designed fits in well and the colours are well matched. It is designed with the reader in mind.

Independent Newspapers Sunday Tribune is a so bland it makes one not interested in further exploring the website for news. The way in which the pictures and stories are presented is just boring, the colour is not strong enough to attract much viewers. Having looked at the Independents Sunday Tribune, I also looked at the Daily News which is also an Independent Newspapers publication and the Daily Newspaper was much better than it sister publication however I do agree with Moodie when she says Independent Newspapers is still behind on many fronts when it comes to venturing online.