People who complain about the lack of available news about Africa usually don’t try very hard to find it. Sure, if you use South African daily newspapers or South African radio and television as your sources, you’re likely to be disappointed. One of the best sources of news from and about Africa, a source updated […]
David Smith
David Smith (sometimes he puts an L in the middle) likes radio.
He likes it a lot. He's not writing for Thought Leader as often as he'd like to these days because he's busy setting up an independent radio network for Somalia. Bar-Kulan ( meeting place in Somali) is on the air on Shortwave, FM, and the internet for Somalis in the Horn of Africa and throughout the diaspora. www.bar-kulan.com
Prior to bar-Kulan, his biggest project was the Radio Okapi network in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Radio Okapi continues to broadcast in six languages from studios throughout the DRC on FM, shortwave and the internet, covering a territory larger than Western Europe. It is the largest United Nations operation of its kind, and is the most listened to and trusted national radio service in the country. www.radiookapi.net
David's career in development began in Zimbabwe, and included work as a journalist in South Africa; at Capital Radio in Durban; as a producer for the international service of the public broadcasters of Canada and The Netherlands; as executive producer for UN Radio at UN headquarters in New York; and setting up a UN peacekeeping radio service in the Central African Republic and former Yugoslavia.
David is a director of Okapi Consulting and is a contributor to the Mail & Guardian, notably an occasional column called Book Safari.
He knows some of the other people who claim to be called David Smith and wishes them well.
David still listens to shortwave. Daily.
Posted inNews/Politics
Remapping Sudan
This Sunday’s referendum in South Sudan is a seriously big deal. I didn’t think it would happen. I thought it would go the way of the referendum in the Western Sahara, the one that should have taken place well over a decade ago but hasn’t, because the Moroccans are still afraid that they might lose. […]
Posted inGeneral
Thoughts in the wake of Africa Day
Monday was Africa Day. It’s a bit like Mother’s Day — once a year we remember somebody or something that is always part of our life, but far too often neglected. Kaya FM played more African music than usual (apart from what Nicky Blumenfeld plays over the weekend) and a number of newspapers ran leaders […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Let’s have more Africa news, not less!
Jacob Zuma casts doubt on the Constitution and the Mail & Guardian cuts the Africa section: what a week! Insulting the dignity of the Constitutional Court is the sort of thing I expect to hear coming out of Julius Malema’s mouth; I didn’t expect the head of the ANC to say such a thing. It’s […]
Posted inBusiness, Media
Regional Commercial Radio — The Good, the Bad & the Ugly
Regional Commercial Radio – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly A lot of South Africans will be taking to the road over the next few days and weeks. For those who don’t really feel like talking while speeding down the highway, there’s always the radio. The last year or so has given us a […]
Posted inNews/Politics
In praise of an ex-dictator
I have been listening to Bantu Holomisa speak for the past 21 years. On Thursday night I heard him again at the University of Johannesburg. Attendees were told that the Major General would deliver a lecture on his initiative to include a question about citizens’ views on constituency representation in the election manifestos of political […]
Posted inNews/Politics
A good woman in the Congo
I was thinking about xenophobia today. In fact, these days I think about it far too often. The death of a friend in Kinshasa prompts today’s thoughts. Nathalie Muteba was a young and extremely gifted journalist at Radio Okapi, a national radio network covering the Democratic Republic of Congo. On Friday Nathalie died suddenly of […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Happy World Refugee Day
I imagine the Tuesday night debate at Wits on xenophobia was the sort of event that attracted the kind of people who read and contribute to Thought Leader. I was there and I’m pleased to have made the effort. The discussion was interesting, and probably could have gone on for hours had there not been […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The birth of a country
“We are proud, independent and free. Today ends all delusions that Kosovo will ever be ruled by Belgrade. We are the last bit to symbolise the disintegration of Yugoslavia.” — Declaration of independence by Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci on February 17 2008 There’s nothing like a new country to inspire writing. Yet another little […]