Township houses fitted with satellite television systems such as DStv have started to become a common sight – even in Grahamstown.
Township houses fitted with satellite television systems such as DStv have started to become a common sight – even in Grahamstown.
It seems that shacks and mud houses have overtaken RDP houses and flats as the latest market for satellite television systems. Grocott's Mail reporter Thabo Jijana tunes in (and gets tuned) as he looks for reasons to explain the latest trend in ekasi (townships)…
Only a few things are as omnipresent as a spaza shop in any South African township, including in Grahamstown. Apart from perhaps, the ubiquitous RDP houses such as those in Vukani Township, or the street-corner taverns and maybe open dump sites.
In such a repetitive setting then, the satellite dishes protruding from shack roofs are bound to catch your eye as something distinctly contradictory: a zinc shack – a sign of impoverishment, seen fitted with a satellite television dish – a sign of wealth and status.
Yet shacks or mud houses with DStv or TopTV dishes on their roofs is an emerging trend in Grahamstown's townships, threatening to become as popular as amagwinya (vetkoek), a staple food which you'll find every kasi child grows up on.
DStv and TopTV were once a luxury, but are now increasingly affordable. And as shack dwellers remain hopeful that they too will be provided with government houses some time in the near future, some residents are taking their cue from those with better housing, and buying the satellite TV dishes for their existing makeshift abodes.
Nomathamsanqa Mavikela, in "N" Street, Tantyi Location, owns one. So does her neighbour Eric Plaatjie. Also Nomaphelo Booi in "I" Street, Tantyi, and Booi's neighbour too. All residents of an informal settlement in Tantyi who own mud houses and shacks.
"Before I bought mine, it was as though we had no TV set," said Booi last week, referring to how her television viewing was constantly interrupted by poor signals that resulted in grainy images, and which made it difficult to find channels. "But that's not a problem any longer," she said.
Plaatjie, a construction worker, agrees. The mud house he lives in on "N" Street, Tantyi, is built in a low-lying area. "It's the poor reception when I was watching TV, he said. “I couldn't really watch anything without having to adjust the antenna." "I mostly watch news on TV,” he explained and apart from gospel music, his favourite channels are Al Jazeera and BBC.
He finally decided to buy himself a satellite dish as soon as it became affordable. Others were persuaded by different reasons. ' "I bought it for my kids," said Mavikela, who owns a home business, selling vegetables and home-grown chickens.
Her kids were so hooked on American wrestling shows that they begged her to buy a DStv set on sale eleven years ago. "It is really easier and safer now to keep the children inside the house, and off the streets," she added. Cartoon Network and the Disney Channel are her two children's favourites.
While it might be too early to judge the new trend as something that will become as popular as amagwinya, to quote Kwaito musician Zola: "If you've been to one township in South Africa, you've been to all of them." Or, if you've seen one shack with a DStv dish on top, you might see another one soon.
