"Welcome to Izwi Labahlali, The Voice Of The Citizens, coming to the Grahamstown community and Radio G for the first time," said Khaya Thonjeni, presenter and producer of the show.
"Welcome to Izwi Labahlali, The Voice Of The Citizens, coming to the Grahamstown community and Radio G for the first time," said Khaya Thonjeni, presenter and producer of the show.
Izwi Labahlali is a show on which the newly trained citizen journalists from the Grocott’s Mail Citizen Journalism course present their stories to Radio Grahamstown listeners.
The show was aired for the very first time on Wednesday at 5pm. Co-hosted by Thonjeni and Grocott’s Mail citizen journalist Sinalo Nkatazo, one of stories included voice recordings of residents commenting on the newly installed traffic lights.
As a way of encouraging citizens to take part, an SMS competition was held to encourage residents to share their views on the topic. Mavis from Xolani won R30 worth of airtime for her SMS. She texted: "Da robots are not the solution, instead they inconvenience us, da 4 way stop is the best."
Grocott’s Mail new media editor Michael Salzwedel said "This show plays a significant role in realising our aim of making news something that is increasingly consumed – and produced – by all citizens of Grahamstown. We hope it will get people talking about issues that really matter to them, so that they can feel more of a sense of belonging in their communities."
"I was nervous but in the end it all went well," said Nkatazo who was excited by the experience. "I can say the first pilot of Izwi labahlali went well because we managed to include the citizens in the choice of topics, production and presenting," added Thonjeni.
Grocott’s Mail municipal reporter Kwanele Butana, who discussed Grocott’s Mail’s lead stories of the week on the breakfast show, will now do the same on Izwi Labahlali, calling his segment Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.
