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ZIWAPHI • VOL 4 NO 8 • 23 April - 6 May 2010

Ziwaphi extend a warm welcome to Rio “Super Boss” Mabunda, who has recently been reinstalled as the station manager for the biggest radio station in Mpumalanga, radio Gwalagwala. The listeners sorely missed you broer and we are hoping you used your time away from the station to study your market properly. While doing other business, we hope you were sizing up your competitors and looking for fresh ideas that should catapult the station to dizzy heights.

Radio Gwalagwala is suffering from state programming. The programme content is dry and lazy. Some of the presenters are lazy and shallow. They do their research on “shwashwi” pages of the tabloids that specialize in gutter journalism. Except for the current affairs teams and some of the talk show programmes, LiGwalagwala has nothing to be proud of.

The deejays are unashamedly, moonlighting. The station provides them with free advert time to market their own services and goods which they peddle for personal commercial gain while utilizing or even abusing state resources. Some of them have become so engrossed in their own mighty that they are taking listeners for granted. In their shows they glorify the cheap culture of “party, booze and getting screwed” which is afflicting the younger generation of our society.

Without sounding like a moralist, Ziwaphi wants to encourage Mabunda to start thinking how he is going to raise the bar at Ligwalagwala. No longer will it suffice to maintain the current crop of sub-standard programs nor will it be acceptable to keep dead wood among the staff for the sake of loyalty.

Radio is fast becoming a sophisticated but down to earth platform for not only the poor but the educated, moderately rich and mobile people across all ages. Watching the SAMA awards over the weekend, one could not help but have a dry throat and a sour taste in the mouth when each time “Big Nuz” scooped an award, the whole group would thank radio Ukhozi for the support it has been giving them. Later, radio Metro, challenged the award winning group with complaints claiming that they too (Metro) gave Big Nuz high rotation airplay.

One wonders what the radio Gwalagwala deejays had to say. No longer will people silently tolerate mediocrity. Being loudmouthed is no longer the quality in one’s resume for being a radio personality. The microphone now demands that public speakers should know what they are saying.

The day days of babalaased bubbling hot air over the airwaves are gone. Segmenting and quartering of the airwaves by the Public Broadcasting Corporation has yielded problems for rural provinces like Mpumalanga. It has killed off competition. Radios like Gwalagwala have enjoyed near monopoly of the broadcast airwaves for a long time. That has brought with it lethargic programs, tardiness and baseless confidence exhibited with alarming alacrity by a bunch of ignoramus who do not owe their jobs to any discernible talent, qualification nor effort.

Except for one or two individuals, I know of no other person at Gwalagwala who does research whether about music or any other subject before they take on the waves. Incidentally, it is only these individuals who play music by local artists. The others play their own cacophony of noise they call music. I know not of any public employment that would allow a worker to use the employer’s time to market and sell personal goods and services for commercial purposes and personal profit. Last year, Ziwaphi published a story of a KaNyamazane based musician, “Jinda” who against all odds won the SATMA awards for the best Siswati Album. Ziwaphi decried the fact that both Ligwalagwala and the Department of Culture, Sports and Recreation had completely stonewalled the ground breaking works of the artist but nothing came of it, except in response to the article, Jinda was hastily called to the studio and a very rough job was broadcast, to shut us up.

Mabunda’s return is one of the best things that have happened recently on radio Gwalagwala, and the culture of doing personal business in office must be rooted out, if the listeners would stand a chance of enjoying value for money. All these fly-by-night events management companies run from the station by individuals should disappear or the owners must disappear with them.

Take pride in your community and start serving them. This may make you unpopular in the corridors of your workplace but take solace in the fact that it is not your colleagues that made you.

You owe it to the large public out there who will settle for nothing less. The public demands good service from you. The fact that you chose to come back tells us that you have a fresh contribution to make and we can’t wait for you to reign in positive changes. Get rid of dead wood and bring in fresh blood. Run the station along sound business principles and save us from blood sucking leeches who masquerade as public broadcasters for personal interests.

Welcome back Super Boss.