RUTV 3

Part 1 – Family Feud

Gideon Nikelo was recently murdered on the streets of Vukani by a couple of gangsters he knew. Gideon’s brother, Michael has since returned home from Port Elizebeth to look after his aging parents now that his brother is dead, and it is thought that he could be seeking revenge on his brothers killers. In this short documentay the Nikelo family explain how it feels to loose a son.

 

 

Part 2 – Family Feud

Having recently lost a family member to murder. A murder that is suspected to be part of Michael Nikelo’s revenge plan for his brothers death, The Klaas family are in fear that their lives are now also in danger. In this short film, they explain how the death occured and reveal their other fears.

 

 

 

Part 3 – Families Unite

After both families had expressed their pain and sadness, it became clear that although both families had hurt each other, no one was gaining anything from the family feud. The feud was simply dividing the community more and putting other lives in danger. Hence as public journalists we decided to bring the two families together and try to find a resolution.

 

 

 

 

1 minuet clip that we feel other public journalists will find interesting

 

In this short clip it becomes clear that these two families once shared a strong friendship, and also that the failed trust that shook their friendship has made forgiveness that much more difficult.

By this stage in our mediation we had managed to get the two grieving families to agree to meet each other. However we also realised that for a true gesture of forgiveness to be made, we would need to allow the two families the opportunity to convey the emotions that have shook them recently and explain why they have been so angry with one another.

We felt by showing Part 1 and Part 2 of our documentaries and then allowing each family the chance to explain why they have been acting the way they have, and why they have been feeling so betrayed, allowed for a good foundation to be laid for a sincere and honest apology and gesture of forgiveness from each family.  

This mediation necessary to help these families back to a similar state of being as before the murders is by no means over, but the first steps towards a resolution are definitely in place.

News Story: Families Unite

 

On the 22^nd of October, we arrived in Vukani ready to mediate a reunion between the Nikelo, Twala and Klaas families. We decided on a mutual venue for the meeting, and eventually chose a small church in the area. We waited for the police to arrive before we started, as we were concerned about any conflict that may occur between the families.

When the police arrived, we described the situation to them, and what we intended to do in this meeting. We asked them to sit in on the meeting, but were told that “it is not in [their] job description.”

We started the proceedings by asking everyone to introduce themselves. So-called “committee members” were asked to leave, leaving only key family members behind.  Proceedings began with a short song followed by a prayer. Matthew Mpahlwa, who chaired the meeting then explained to all present what the aim of the meeting was and clarified any queries. We then played both the Nikelo and Klaas documentaries. Everyone sat quietly while the videos were playing and all listened intently. Matthew translated any English sections into isiXhosa.

After watching the videos we had an interaction session between the two families, trying to find a way forward. Michael Nikelo said he ‘never knew there was tension between the two families’ and said the families should support each other through this situation. The Twala and Klaas families stated they didn’t have a problem with the Nikelo family either.  Both families felt the community was to blame for their gossip on the situation. The gossip escalated the situation, with the community trying to continue the family feud.

Michael’s father, Solomon Nikelo, expressed concern over the justice system, worried that it was not performing its job. He wanted to be ensured that perpetrators would be convicted. He was not against the Twala and Klaas families; he only wanted an explanation for why his child was killed. Michael’s mother, Miriam said she would never have peace, Michael added or corrected her by saying she would never have peace with the perpetrators not the family. The Twala and Klaas family expressed that they were living in fear wanted desperately for this feud to come to an end. They said they felt very unsecure in the area, and didn’t understand why everyone is against them personally when they never send their kids out to do bad things.

As the meeting drew to a close both families agreed to be friends and it was decided that the Twala/Klaas families would be incorporated back into the community.  Micahel would lead this initiative and there would be a follow-up community meeting to which Nikelo would invite the families as well as explain the situation to the community. Unfortunately, when he left the meeting Micahel went against his word, saying we had miscommunicated the nature and aim of the meeting to him. He said he had never known it was going to be purely a family meeting and had thought it was one which would include the entire community. We had phoned him earlier that day reminding him of the meeting and describing his nature, so his comment came as quite a surprise.

 Matthew addressed the angry mob outside explaining to them what had happened in the meeting. The 6 policemen were on stand-by throughout our interaction with the community outside the church. They warned us however that they did not have enough manpower to push the crowds back. The community were to be informed about the decisions taken, and told there would be an arranged community meeting where the family to be integrated back into the Vukani community.

As we left the church community members began insulting us and calling us liars. They shouted at group member, Robyn McCormick who had arranged the meeting saying she was a liar and was to blame for the all the problems. There was a great deal of miscommunications which lead to confusion and anger over what we as a group were trying to achieve.

Luckily before we left, the community understood what we had been doing and apologised to our group for their mistakes and we apologised for any miscommunication they may have occurred on our part. It was said that the community would be responsible for organising the meeting for the families to be integrated back into the community. We left reluctant over the outcome of the community meeting which is still to be held. We were happy with our achievements, and hope that discussions between the families will continue once we leave.

 

A university student has found a way of cutting costs and remaining well within his student budget. Our very own RUTV 3 Reporters, Nontobeko Sibisi and Zikhona Tshona, on location spoke to Luzuko Buku and Makana Municipality, they had the following to report.

Ever wondered how the real ‘makoya’ hip hop dancers shook their tale feather? Well wonder no-more..I decided to take it back to the streets where I am managed to spot our very own local talent that was kind enough to teach us how ‘to roll with the big dawgs’…CHECK THIS OUT…AND IT GOES A LIL SUMDANG LIKE THIS….

OBE was first introduced in the 1990’s when the quality of South African education came under great scrutiny. Aggravating the problem even further were issues of inequalities within South African society, with the majority of the population sidelined and discriminated against. As a result, education policies had to be revisited in such a way that they would revise educational provision in such a way that they would promote a more balanced view of South African society.

In later months the ANC ruled out Apartheid education and in doing so introducing OBE in 1997, the government’s attempt of addressing the education crisis in the country. Apart from the curricular being implemented so as to limit content-based learning it also had to respond to international trends in educational development. In March 1997 the Education Minister announced in the British parliament the launch of Curriculum 2005.

Questions still remain unanswered with people enquiring whether or not the change in South African education was for the better or for worse. Or perhaps whether the OBE curricular simply lowers the standard for high achievers, whilst relegating those who have traditionally struggled to mediocrity, instead of realising individual potential.

The depreciating quality of the country’s education cannot solely be attributed to OBE but also one may argue that it is because of our national obsession with the matriculation exam as a bellwether of achievement.

Every year thousands of matriculants, are said to complete the curriculum unprepared for the challenges of higher education let alone the workplace. The ultimum question then becomes, Are the new breed of matricualnts well equipped than their predecessors? A third of the 2008 candidates failed matric last year, despite the fact that the pass rate has been lowered to just 30% (refer to graph). The actual matric pass rate decreased by 2.7% while learners receiving matric exemptions increased by 5.2%. The Department of Education has been called to address this crisis and ensure that it improves dramatically.

Isn’t it just great when you have friends partaking in controversial activities?  This is what i thought at first…A group of boys who i know, were scheduled to have their digs formal.  We negotiated at length until they agreed to let me film the beginning of their formal.  In true Rhodes style (and may i reiterate that this is a male digs!) they called me about half an hour before i was set to shoot, to cancel!  Their excuse was that their dates (who had been procured at the last minute) felt uncomfortable being filmed. 

 

So rushed phonecalls were made and i managed to secure another digs formal shoot on the same night!  And it turned out to be a success-we got great footage.  Everything happens for a reason…

 

Check out this short description from an anonymous source about the theme of a digs formal:

Watch this short video, from the same source, which talks about the games played:

Here is some footage on the actual digs formal.  Our camera was on while the ladies were setting up.  This snippet shows them blowing up condoms and putting in little cards which detail a game to be played (by the person who pops the balloon).  We had to step in to help them…taking journalism to a new level…

 

And last, but not least, a look at how they prepared their punch.  It seems even though it didn’t taste that great, it was consumed!

If you were in high school less than four years ago I am sure you still remember the feeling of being a learner. Sitting behind the desk and regurgitating what the teacher is feeding you. But things have changed now, the matriculants of 2008 wrote their first examination under the Outcome Based Education system (OBE). The system encourages them to apply what their have learnt in the class room in real life situations and think critically. Despite the change in the education system I still felt like I could relate to the learners on a very personal level. I also went to a high school in a previously disadvantaged community like T.E.M Mrwetyana Senior Secondary School-Grahamstown. The teacher we interviewed mentioned that one of the reasons why they could not successfully implement the OBE curricular is because they school does not have enough resources 

Listen to the podcast to hear more about what the OBE teacher had to say about the system:[podcast]http://rutv3.ru.ac.za/wp-content/uploads/teachermp3.mp3[/podcast]

 

 

 

How we followed the story: – “If it bleeds, it leads”

After brainstorming all possible angles we were going to follow to put together the story. We just noted down possible sources, location for filming and the research. One of the sources we were going to use is Prof. Chrissie Boughey; she is the Rhodes University Dean of learning and teaching. Prof Boughey was quoted in an article published in the previous edition of the Financial Mail. We could not meet with her for an interview so we were going to use her picture as a graphic cutaway in our package and also use her quote. We could not do that because we had to make the package as short as possible. Check out the full article about OBE: 

 

 

 

 

“The Benchmark Tests assess students against a set of ‘benchmark competencies’ — skills experienced academics have identified as necessary if students are to be able to engage with first-year work”.

 -Prof Boughey