Voices From Sa

I met first Imraan at the University of Natal in the mid-1990's when he worked for the Trade Union Research Project (TURP) that was based on the campus. We used to play football on the weekends. These days he is the Dean of Commerce, Law and Management at the University of the Witwatersrand. He recently chaired the Advisory Panel on the National Minimum Wage. We chatted about his journey from trade union researcher into university management and spoke along the way about the current state of the trade union movement, the national minimum wage, the dilemmas that faced university management in the face of the Fees Must Fall movement and the role of a university in South Africa today.

Dan Moyane started his media career with the English-language service of Radio Mozambique in 1979 after fleeing South Africa, the security police on his tail. On returning from exile in 1991 Dan worked for independent Talk Radio 702\. He has held a number of roles in South African broadcasting and is currently co-host of Morning News Today on eNCA four days a week. He is also head of Public Affairs for MMI Holdings. In this episode we chat about growing up in apartheid South Africa, the Soweto Uprising, the death of Samora Machel, the challenges facing post-liberation South Africa, the state of the ANC and racism in business.

My guest this week is Nozipho Mbanjwa. She is a broadcaster, moderator and entrepreneur. Nozipho has worked as an anchor for CNBC Africa, has moderated discussions for the World Bank, IMF and BRICS, and runs The Talent Firm. Raised in Pietermaritzburg, Nozipho studied at the University of Pretoria before doing an internship in the Office of the Presidency while completing her Honours degree in International Relations. She also has a Masters Degree in International Studies & Diplomacy from the University of London and a Masters Degree in Development Finance from Stellenbosch Business School. We spoke about her childhood in Pietermaritzburg, the lack of transformation in business leadership in South Africa, racism and gender violence, among other things.

My guest this week is Prof Ruth Hall. Ruth is based at PLAAS, the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian studies based at the University of the Western Cape. Find out more about the work of PLAAS at plaas.org.za She is one of South Africa's leading experts on land redistribution, land restitution and land tenure in the country. All three of her post-graduate degrees have focused on the land question in South Africa. With land suddenly in the spotlight and a general election around the corner I thought it would be interesting to get some perspective on the debate. While a lot of discussion is taking place on the need to change the South African Constitution in order to move land distribution forward, Ruth feels it is a lack of political will from the ANC that has stalled the process. She also feels that land redistribution efforts have focused on giving farms to a politically connected urban elite, and not the poorest of the poor.

My guest this week is Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng the new Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Town.  She officially took up her position at the beginning of July. We spoke about her childhood and schooling, and how she recognised and cultivated a love for mathematics and mathematics education.  Professor Phakeng is a B1 rated researcher with more than 80 research papers to her name. The conversation touched on issues around transformation and decolonization of tertiary education and the opportunities that the fees must fall movement can offer a university like UCT. Mamokgethi also laid out her hopes for how the university might modernise over the next five to ten years, a process she says must begin with joint responsibility and reconciliation. Between all parties Please not that this interview took place two days before the tragic death of Professor Bongani Mayosi, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at UCT. Prof Mayosi committed suicide on July 27. Selfie credit: Prof Mamokgethi Phakeng

Christi van der Westhuizen is Professor of Sociology at the University of Pretoria. She is the author of two books. Her first book, "White Power", published in 2007, focuses on the rise and fall of the National Party. Her most recent offering is "Sitting Pretty-White Afrikaans Women in Postapartheid South Africa". She has written numerous academic publications and papers. Christi grew up in Boksburg, outside Johannesburg. Her early career was as a journalist for the the anti-apartehid Afrikaans newspaper Vrye Weekblad, and then the more mainstream Beeld. After a time working in international relations she launched her academic career which has focued on issues of race and identity. We spoke about her childhood in Boksburg, her early questioning of  the Afrikaner mainstream around her, and some of the the themes of race, power and gender identity that form the backbone of her books. We also chatted about issues around democratization, the re-emergence of a toxic Afrikaner nationalism, and the need to re

My guest this week is an icon of South African football. Clive Barker coached the South African football team Bafana Bafana to victory in the African Cup of Nations on home soil back in 1996\. Along the way he coached a umber of championship club teams including his favourite 1985 Durban Bush Bucks. Clive was sixteen years old when he made his professional debut for Durban City but two serious knee injuries pushed him into coaching. He has recently published his memoirs, "Coach -The Life and Soccer Times of Clive Barker, written in conjunction with Micheal Marnewick. The book is a journey though modern South African football, both during and after apartheid, and contains a wonderful selection of anecdotes from Clive, as well as tit-bits from some of the many famous players he coached including Calvin Peterson, Mark Fish and Doctor Khumalo. Clive was at the center of the golden age of south African football for two decades. We chatted about coaching, the qualities he looked for in players, the 1996 final

My guest this week is Chippy Olver. Chippy is a medical doctor who has devoted his adult life to the liberation struggle starting with the End Conscription Campaign back in the 1980's. He has worked as a doctor, an activist and served in government as the Director General of Environmental Affairs and Tourism from 1999-20005\. In 2016 he was appointed to an ANC Regional Task Team aimed at rooting out corruption in the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality. This was part of an effort to ensure the ANC did not lose the city in the 2016 municipal elections, an effort that ultimately failed.  But led to Chippy writing a book about his experiences called How To Steal A City. He is currently reading for  a PhD in politics at the University of the Witwatersrand on the topic of corruption in local government. Since leaving government he has worked as a consultant in both  the environmental and local government spaces. We chatted about his early activism and radicalization, working for a government in transition, the

Nomso Kana is a young broadband entrepreneur and gender activist. She started a career as a nuclear researcher but after being frustrated by slow internet speeds she started the fibre optic manufacturing company Sun n Shield. She believes broadband is an essential service that should be available to everybody wherever they live. Nomso grew up in the rural Eastern Cape where she studied maths and physics although she was only exposed to a physics laboratory when she studied at the University of Fort Hare. She is also a co-founder of the NPO Taungana. "Taungana is a movement that empowers rural African high school girls with the opportunity to access and explore Science, Technology, Engineering, Entrepreneurship & Math (STEM)"

My guest this week is Siya Jentile the founder and CEO of Not in my Name SA. Siya formed the organization with a group of friends about a year ago in response to the murder of Karabo Mokoena . On May 3, 2018 Sandile Mantsoe was sentenced to more than 30 years imprisonment for killing her. The organization has since expanded its remit from gender based violence activism to a broader social justice and civil rights organization. Siya is member of the National inter-sectoral committee on domestic violence and femicide. He was recently selected to be one of the 200 delegates attending the inaugural Obama Foundation Africa Leadership Program, 2018.

Thandi Ntuli has been playing piano since the age of four and is a future legend of South African music. Jackson Sinnenberg for NPR.org wrote "When you hear her fingers touch the ivories, the notes that flow come from the river of tradition that houses Chopin, Art Tatum, and Nina Simone. But in her compositions and vocals, you hear her channel the rhythms of life that inform can inform music all around Africa." Thandi released her first album The Offering four years ago and released her second album Exiled a few months ago. I have included a track from each album in this episode. We spoke about, among other things, We spoke about, among other things, the inspiration she gets from music across Africa, the foundation she got from her classical training and the joy of travelling the world. Thandi  and her band will be performing at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg 20-21 July 2018\.

My guest this week is Professor Ahmed Bawa. Ahmed is the CEO of Universities South Africa, the membership body for all universities in the country. The organization is involved in policy development and advocacy work. Ahmed grew up in a small town in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands and went on to become a particle physicist despite not studying physics at school. He has been in university administration for many years and was appointed to his current role in February 2016. We chatted about the current state of tertiary institutions n South Africa, the lessons the institutions might have learnt from the Fees Must Fall movement, and how universities should make themselves more relevant to their communities.

Hello again and welcome to another episode of Voices from SA, my name is Nicholas Claude. My guest this week, episode 17, is the saxophonist Sintu Ndzube. Sintu grew up in Port Elizabeth, attended the National School of Arts and went on to get a degree in music. She has played in various groups over the years and music has taken her to Peru, Sri Lanka and Dubai. We chatted about how she took up the sax at a fairly late stage in her music education after studying piano for many years, the art of being a session musician and what it is like being the only woman in the band. She is currently putting the finishing touches to her single Genesis which is being produced in collaboration with South African music titan Blondie Makhene. Later this year she will tour the USA with the musical Africa Umoja.

Ayana is a photographer who divides her time between Brooklyn, Paris and I am happy to say Johannesburg. Her biography describes her work. "Ayana V Jackson’s work examines the complexities of photographic representation and the role of the camera in constructing identity. Using performance and studio-based portraiture, her practice can be seen as a map of the ethical considerations and relationships involved between the photographer, subject and viewer." She is currently researching a project as part of a fellowship with the The National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) "My view of Johannesburg is that is is progressive and mixed.  What keeps me here is that it is busy becomnig what it will be be. It has left its past but not quite found its future. It will never be in this moment again."

Batuk are producer Ntatho Mokgata (Spoek Mathambo) and singer Carla Fonseca (Manteiga). We met on the eve of the release of the first single,  Deep Ocean Deep, from the duo's second album Kasi Royalty. The sound is a combination of South African house beats, and rhythms and sounds from across the continent. Batuk recently returned from a tour that took them to Australia, South Korea and China. We chatted about, among other things, creativity and performance, the global legacy of whiteness, and the ups and downs of life on the road. I am pleased to include two groovy tracks from Kasi Royalty- the new single Deep Ocean Deep, and Niks Mapha!

Loyiso Gola is a world-famous South African comedian who divides his time between Johannesburg, London and wherever his next gig takes him. Loyiso made his breakthrough as the host of Late Nite News with Loyiso Gola that was launched in 2010\. The show was nominated for an international Emmy award in 2013\. He has performed a number of one-man shows over the years and is currently on the road with his latest performance Unlearning. We spoke about the experience of being a pioneer in the new south African comedy scene, his constant process of developing his craft as he evolves as a person, and the difficulty of changing a society's culture. The photo is from Loyiso's whats app profile.

Ryan Cummings is a security and risk analyst, and Director of the Cape Town based risk management consultancy Signal Risk. A graduate in International Relations from the University of Cape Town, Ryan has established a reputation as an international expert on Islamic Groups operating across northern Africa. We spoke about his growing up in a single-parent home, his path to security studies, the damaging combination of oppressive democracies and violent non-state players across the region, and the state of the South African intelligence services, among other things "South African security services do seem to be complacent and one gets the impression that during this transition period our intelligence resources have been absorbed in domestic politics which makes me wonder how many resources are given to following outside threats."

Albie Sachs was blown up by apartheid security forces in Maputo in 1988\. He survived solitary confinement, exile and the attack to become one of the architects of the South African constitution, and a Constitutional Court judge. We spoke about the debate around including a bill of rights in the new constitution, his meeting with the person who planned his assassination, and the concept of soft vengeance. "Surviving the attack transformed my life. I had a sense of rejuvenation. Learning to write gave me sense of excitement. I wanted to show my mum. The physical recovery went with the sense of joy and elation that as I healed my country would heal."

MXO is a Johannesburg-based singer and songwriter who burst onto the local music scene in 2004\. Since then he has released a number of albums and performed around the world. He has worked and performed with the likes of Hugh Masekela, John Legend, Mandoza and Maxwell. He is currently putting the finishing touches to his latest album Conscious Reflections that is due for release in June 2018. In our discussion we chat about sticking to your guns, the ups and downs of fame and how appearing on South African Survivor gave him the space to turn his life around. This episode also includes two tracks from the upcoming album, Ingelosi and Carpe Diem.

Dr Lulu Gwa Gwa is the CEO of Lereko Investments. She has a PhD in Town Planning from University College London and is a former Deputy Director  -General of Public Works for both the Mandela and Mbeki governments. She was also CEO of the Independent Development Trust (IDT). Our discussion covers a broad range of issues including the ongoing legacy of apartheid spatial planning, the importance of rural development, the lack of transformation in business and the challenges facing young women professionals when they enter the work space.