“Everyone has a byline when it comes to social media today,” said guest of honour, Buti Manamela, Deputy Minister in The Presidency for National Planning, Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation at Sunday night’s (7th September) Barclays Africa formal dinner.
“Everyone has a byline when it comes to social media today,” said guest of honour, Buti Manamela, Deputy Minister in The Presidency for National Planning, Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation at Sunday night’s (7th September) Barclays Africa formal dinner.
Calling Highway Africa “an opportunity for the insides of the African media platform to be challenged”, Manamela expressed that success lies in all of our hands.
“Africans need to be inspired at home rather than experiencing a sense of helplessness,” he said.
“Within all of us lies an ability to drive the new narrative of Africa.”
Manamela said this new narrative involves the transformation of ordinary citizens and passive consumers, to producers of content. He emphasised that the role of transformation begins ‘in the home’.
“Entrenchment of democracy starts at home and this is a step towards peace,” Manamela said.
Tim Kiy, Head of Communication at Barclays Africa described how it is the ordinary citizen who will influence the media.
“People want their news instantly and they don’t want to just receive it, they want to comment and be involved,” explained Kiy. He described how responding to this demand is our only choice, and that we must simultaneously ensure the accuracy and reliability of journalism.
“That is the heart of any story, and we hope teaching that will allow participants to tell their stories with insight and credibility,” he said.
Barclays Africa hosted a Data Journalism Master Class at Rhodes University where mid-career business journalists were given the opportunity to tackle financial matters and turn numbers into words. Delegates were awarded their certificates of completion by Manamela.
But the focus, was not on the awardees or even the guest of honour, but rather on the musical talent of the Lana Crowster Quintet from Cape Town. The smooth, velvety voice of Crowster together with her band had the audience begging for more in between servings of the three-course meal.
The night was brought to a close with delegates slow dancing after snapping and sharing pictures of their chocolate mousse dessert that was topped with brownies and cream. Nothing is too trivial for a tweet.
To see the full gallery from the Barclay’s Africa Dinner visit our blog at www.highwayafricaos.wordpress.com.
