Growing as a Journalist (In leaps and bounds)

Ayanda Mdluli

The last few months have been a roller coaster ride in my world as journalist. I’m told by some of the senior journalist that the discipline has its ups and downs. Some of our stories get used and some don’t, “It is the nature of the business,” says Sipho Khumalo; a fascinating character, full of history and knowledgeable on the politics of the industry.

He has been a journalist for 25 years, and every morning I serve as an eager ear, listening to him as he reminisces about the pro’s and con’s of being a journalist during apartheid and how the industry has changed for the better. Each day has its defining moment, and the past month has changed my perspective on the kind of life I want to live as a journalist.

In the cadet school I was taught that one should never be complacent, we must always be willing to learn and in learning we must educate others and strive to make a difference in the world. Well, at least that’s how I understood it. Anyways two young bloods, studying first year journalism at Rhodes cam into our newsroom to do a 10 day work experience programme. I also did something similar at the Daily News, but I was in grade 11 at the time.

The young bloods were eager to work on something interesting and they seemed like sensible guys who wouldn’t panic if confronted with a threatening situation. I decided to take the gamble and invited them to come with me on a story about a deadly drug called whoonga which took Durban townships by storm. We went inside the ghetto and into the drug den, I spoke to the addicts and took pictures and tried to motivate them to turn their lives around.

The young bloods sat, watched and listened but because of the language barrier they couldn’t participate in the discussion as much as they would have wanted to. After that we came back to the newsroom and wrote a front page story and 1000 word feature which has received a wide range of positive responses from the public. Other news papers picked up on it and did follow up stories, broadcast media wanted contacts from me and even drum magazine ran a story about it. The discussions in various publications still continue and more Rhodes journalism students have followed in the footsteps of Daniel Whitehorn and Brendan Ward. There is a group of Rhodes students in Durban as we speak doing a strikingly similar story.

It was all about making a difference and when I was in the newsroom for the first time in 2002 I had a similar experience which motivated me to become a journalist and show the world what happens in the lives of South Africans behind closed doors.
Today, the ANC wants to gag the media and control the press and our freedom of speech. This is a nasty pattern and it is prevalent in African politics once liberation movements gain political power. It is slowly starting to take its shape and during that time one can spot a few African pessimists conveying I told you so attitudes and messages in the papers and social networking sites. I think about Sipho and his stories during apartheid; suddenly, I can see the future and I think to myself; here we go again.