“You’ll never get anywhere in the SABC – you’re a woman, English-speaking and a feminist!” – one of my female colleagues told me in the early 1980s. It certainly fired my determination to prove her wrong.
A Passion for Radio and a curiosity about life
I’ve always loved radio… as a young girl, I used to listen in the dark in the early evenings to Radio South Africa English service drama series (No place to Hide; The Creaking Door; The Three Wise Men….) and get transported to different worlds.
The SABC Regional Editor was recruiting on campus at Natal University in Pietermaritzburg where I was studying for a BA, and I grabbed the opportunity to start working in radio news in 1974, after graduating. As one of only two female reporters in a majority White Afrikaner male newsroom, I was given the more mundane tasks such as “calling the Rounds” 3 times a day (asking emergency services such as sea rescue, the fire department, police etc if anything had happened); taking down agricultural prices; sports stories; and tip offs from correspondents… and had to push to be assigned to cover more serious news.
I was also given early and late shifts compiling hourly English and Afrikaans news bulletins for Radio Port Natal.
One evening, a subeditor came behind me as I was typing and grabbed my breasts… when I protested, he said ‘if you can’t stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen’– this made me more determined than ever to gain experience reporting in every possible news beat.
I started transforming well before the national SABC vision for it… as a feminist and community activist, I believed that a professional, ethical newsroom in South Africa had to be diverse and gender- empowered to be a quality public broadcaster and serve society.
Winds of change
When I was promoted to radio/ TV news Assignment Editor in 1989 I encouraged more women and isiZulu speakers to apply… then in 1991, as Regional Editor, I went out of my way to strengthen the news team by recruiting young talented Black, Indian and especially female reporters from print ( the Witness, Daily News and Echo, and from Capital Radio), which meant my newsroom in 1993 was the most transformed of any in any media in South Africa – in terms of race, gender and news management.
I was among the first three women to be chosen as a parliamentary reporter in 1983. Only white men were chosen until then. Then Ami Nanackchand was the first Indian reporter appointed, and eventually, the Parliamentary team comprised all races.
In KwaZulu-Natal, I was determined to achieve at least half women and 80% black/ Indian to reflect our audiences and the KZN population.
When it was announced by the Regional Manager that I was appointed the Editor for Radio News for KwaZulu-Natal, my isiZulu reporter colleagues put a sign saying ‘Viva Iron Lady’ on my ‘Radio Today’ office door.
I had led parity campaigns in SABC news to get equal salaries for us all, and had worked side by side with them in the field and really appreciated their support. Some white men were however, not impressed with my promotion over their heads, despite my being the only senior journalist in the newsroom at the time to have won broadcast awards, worked at Parliament in the Press Gallery (seen as a stepping stone to editor for all the men), and with an English major BA and a law degree!
We also had sexual harassment to deal with at times. As women in the media, we had to be feisty and fight our own battles with no policy in place then. There were also instances of female reporters facing sexism from newsmakers. We had to cope by ourselves with being propositioned by newsmakers or treated patronisingly with overtly sexist remarks. There were no senior women then, but a handful of men were supportive… such support was surprising and like gold when it happened.
A small wind of change started blowing through Auckland Park in 1990. As part of a restructuring of the SABC state broadcaster, the 9 provinces were given some autonomy as ‘business units’ led by their Regional Manager. I spent 15 years doing Radio (and some television) news reporting – 2 years in Durban; 5 years as Pietermaritzburg field reporter working with Bureau chief John Marsh; 4 years in the Parliamentary Press Gallery and 3 as Radio Today’s roving KZN reporter – covering everything from boxing and rugby, Council meetings and court cases to rallies and marches and mountain rescues.
In 1991, I was appointed Head of Radio News for KwaZulu-Natal, responsible for news and current affairs to over 4 million listeners to Radio Zulu, Radio Lotus and East Coast Radio. I had just been given the annual Artes SABC Audio news reporting award for my 15 minute interview with the much-admired Radio Doctor, Tony Venniker, who was dying of terminal cancer. Despite my former conservative boss Johann Kruger having said ‘over his dead body would there ever be a female editor,’ I was greeted by the sign ‘Viva Iron Lady’ when I went back to my poky little Radio Today office on the 6th floor. It had been put there by my Zulu-speaking colleagues, whom I had gotten to know while working in the field, and who had supported me in my parity campaign for equal wages and benefits for women and for black staffers at the SABC.
In 1989, I, with help of Cheus Albertyn of Lawyers for Human Rights, charged the SABC for an unfair Labour practice of discriminating against married women and others, in particular, by not giving them the housing subsidy (or by taking it away when a woman staffer got married). It was assumed the man was the breadwinner and no attention was paid to worker rights. The day before the hearing, the Board sat and scrapped benefits discrimination affecting all staff. The arguments we used were later the basis for the case to get equal benefits for teachers and nurses in South Africa.
Engendering the newsroom
Having had no management training (except for my own reading at that stage), but having experienced an autocratic system, I decided my best way forward as the Corporation’s first female provincial news head, was to equalise and normalise the working environment in order to enable a more professional newsroom, and to practice in a style opposite to what I had experienced. I drew on my experiences as a gender activist in my life outside the SABC. I had founded the Pietermaritzburg Rape Crisis Centre in the late ’70s, and learned a great deal about community activism from a Canadian feminist who helped to train our small group of women as counsellors for the 24-hour crisis line. Going illegally into townships and to Edendale hospital at all hours of the night to assist rape survivors of all races made us even more determined in our public talks and activities to tackle the root causes of violence in our patriarchal and divided society, and to raise our own and societal consciousness about the deep inequalities that existed; and how stereotyping people did so much damage.
I introduced monthly staff meetings and staff awards; rotated the chairing of staff meetings, had speak- outs and developed more participative management. Among the first steps I took was to promote the 8 talented middle-aged ‘junior journalists’ on the Radio Zulu news desk, and to ‘poach’ talented young reporters from independent Capital Radio, the only other radio station in the province at the time, and from the Natal Witness and Daily News, as well as identify potential talent in freelancers and in job applications. I felt strongly, given the wide range of life experiences we had across race and gender, that it was crucial to have a diverse news team to enrich the way we did and told our news. In this way, the newsroom was strengthened by (these talented young media stalwarts in the making) Xolani Gwala, Mary Papayya, Bongi Gwala, Alex Mthiyane, Clive Govender, Bheki Ncube, Vuyi Radebe, Victor Molefe, Diane McPherson, and later Devi Sankaree Govender and Raeesa Mahomed, in addition to dedicated staffers Elize van Der Walt and Nhlakanipho Zulu. The 4 producer/presenter pillars of the Zulu current affairs team, whom I managed to get promoted to senior level, all together with a strong motivation to the CEO Hawu Mbatha ( Nhlakanipho Zulu, Mtholephi Mthimkulu, Dumisani Ngcobo, Dumisani Shange, and later, Vusi Sithole).
With reporters needing to get out and about in news cars, it was apparent that many still did not have driver’s licences, having had to use public transport in the townships, so I arranged for staff lessons to be sponsored to speed up the process.
Changing the agenda
Two important decisions I had to make were to halt the daily hour-long IFP broadcast from Ulundi – once the ANC and other parties were unbanned in that momentous announcement by President F W de Klerk, it was crucial to extend fair coverage to all political role-players. And to ensure none of our broadcast material was passed on to the Security police, as I had discovered used to happen previously. From my community work, I knew that SABC News had very broken links with the community at large, so I set up what I called a monthly NGO Forum. I reached out to the Peace committee, human rights committee, women’s groups, church groups and other visibly active groups to meet with me monthly to discuss what stories we were missing and provide news that was more relevant to all. I also arranged with the station heads that if we had a major news story, we could break into a live or recorded programme with the news. Sound bites in the bulletins were another innovation, as I felt it important for listeners to hear newsmakers in their own voice and language. By this time, we had become the most transformed newsroom in the country across race and gender and in our mix of news editors.
I had been approached by Sbu Ndebele to have discussions with the now unbanned ANC in the province and had useful and argumentative talks about transformation with the group off and on over the next few years. After 1996, these were often quite heated, so it was a huge help when I was able to bring senior reporter Mary Papayya into my management team as the Executive Producer of the brand new Newsbreak current affairs show, launched on Radio Lotus with then station manager Fakir Hassan’s visionary support.
Hosting Madiba
A memorable milestone event in 1991 was the day we hosted the ANC leader Nelson Mandela in a live listener phone-in on Radio Zulu.
As I walked across the foyer to greet him, an overly conscientious Afrikaner security guard dressed in a khaki safari suit stopped him and insisted he sign in. I apologised profusely, and said ‘No! He’s my VIP guest!’ but Madiba ever so graciously said ‘No problem, he’s just doing his job,’ and proceeded to sign in.
The first democratic elections
With a visionary new Board at SABC in 1993, the Democracy Education Broadcast Initiative (DEBI) was set up with weekly line-talks chaired by board member, the University of Natal’s Prof Ruth Tomaselli. We discussed themes and guests for current affairs shows that would provide a form of voter education in time for the country’s first democratic elections. This was an empowering process, so, when one evening our accomplished and articulate current affairs host, Nhlakanipho Zulu had no guests from any of the invited parties pitching for the broadcast, we decided to turn it into a listener phone-in, and Nhlakanipho really tapped into what their concerns and queries were.
In the DEBI process, the Independent Electoral Commission was a powerful ally in empowering our audiences. As a result of our strengthened newsroom capacity and experience covering the political turbulence in the region, we were the only province to do most of the election broadcasts from our base, whereas many other regions were given a base in Joburg for co- ordinated broadcasts under the sterling leadership of John Matisonn, whom Radio head Govin Reddy had brought in to fast -track the SABCs ability to provide professional coverage. When Govin was appointed, one of the first things he did as part of preparing the SABC was to commission a comprehensive report by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s editor Bob Wurth, on the state of the SABC’s radio and information services and the changes needed to have fully functional news programming to meet the needs of our new democracy. Bob compiled an incisive 110 page report making strong recommendations.
He identified the Natal newsroom as ‘being in many respects far more advanced than in Johannesburg and the other regions’ (page 39), and the Natal news editor as ‘having made positive steps in recruitment and overcoming previous racial and sexual discrimination,’ ‘being forward-looking and an agent of change despite a lack of resources and poor equipment.’ On the basis of his findings, he recommended to Govin that I be redeployed immediately to continue the transformation countrywide from Johannesburg.
My province was in turmoil and some of my team and I were receiving death threats. I was meeting with senior representatives of all the political parties in trying to deliver fair and equitable news coverage. I felt I could not desert my team until after the first democratic 1994 elections. So, it was agreed I would be seconded to act as Executive Editor of Radio News, taking over from John in July 1994 to drive the national restructuring and transformation of News.
I was flummoxed to find a huge, mostly empty office at my disposal, (with a handy urinal just outside:)) I set up a staff transformation committee to work with me, drawing in representatives from all the news sections, and set about talking to people and making changes. I used the Editor-in-Chief’s entertainment budget to buy 60 new tape recorders for reporters who didn’t have equipment. With a lot of support from fellow comrades, but stiff resistance from a few senior editors, I drew up a master plan: mainly to address the huge disparity in staffing and technical resources across languages and regions; to initiate journalism and voice training; to facilitate setting up a news research team; and to flatten and democratise the editorial structure. On August 11th, 1994, Govin wrote a memo to news staff congratulating me on accomplishing my primary task… ‘thanks to her dedication and relentless drive, the restructuring is almost complete…”
My proposed changes were then approved by unions and the board. Govin was not happy that I would not apply for the permanent position of Head of News, but I felt I was still needed back in KwaZulu-Natal, and that a credible experienced Black editor would be better positioned than I to continue improving news operations.
Post 1994
After a fascinating and insightful 3 weeks in the USA touring newsrooms and meeting a range of editors and media professors as a guest of the African- American Institute and the United States Public Affairs International Visitors’ leadership programme, I returned to my Regional Editor post in Durban to find even more challenges in the run-up to the delayed 1996 KwaZulu-Natal local government elections – due to be held on the 26th June, after the IFP was ultimately persuaded by Madiba to participate. I found a province in turmoil, and a newsroom that had staff leaning dangerously in different political directions. Tensions between the ANC, IFP and UDM were high, and the incidence of politically motivated killings quite devastating.
I had to have a strategic plan to navigate this minefield and serve all our listeners with fair reporting. Most crucial was to air the voices and concerns of ordinary people; ensure unbiased, equitable coverage of all the political parties; ensure listeners received a wide range of relevant, clear and useful information so as to enable them to make informed choices… and to ensure my journalists and producers could report on events and issues without intimidation or duress or physical attacks. Not only was I coordinating coverage on Radio Zulu, Radio Lotus and East Coast Radio, but another 25 reporters had been deployed to KwaZulu-Natal to report in 5 more languages. Foreign correspondents also appeared on the scene… the eyes of the world were on our politically volatile province again. No one could predict the extent of intolerance and conflict.
In 1994, I had learnt it was problematic having separate meetings with officials from the main parties, so I convened joint multi-party meetings with the aim of improving communication, sharing our news code and coverage plans, and to set up a complaints channel. Setting early ground rules about events coverage, debate plans etc made it easier to manage the whole process. Meetings were held every 6 weeks between that March and August. I revived the 1994 NGO Forum and added in representatives from IDASA and MPD (Institute for Democratic Alternatives for SA and Institute for Multi -Party Democracy) as well as peace committees and human rights, gender and justice and disability groups. The meetings were invaluable in identifying grassroots issues, projects and people to interview. We also scanned the universities for credible analysts. Reporters were deployed across the province in the run- up to election day to do vox pops and identify issues and concerns. These were fed into current affairs debates and phone-ins, and we ended up including more voter education and IEC input to meet the needs of our listeners. We had experienced death threats and intimidation in ’94 and hoped this would not recur. However, with field reporters and current affairs producers being harassed and threatened, something had to be done.
I raised my concern in the NGO forum… and we decided a code of conduct could be a guide. I searched for one to no avail, and eventually approached a contact at the World Press Freedom Committee in Washington for advice. They hadn’t come across anything like this before and wished me luck! Fortunately, I had the bright minds in my forum to talk to. We discussed what the code should cover, and listed the negative actions we had been experiencing. The code was signed in the Durban foyer of the SABC by the KZN leaders of all 15 political parties participating in the 1996 local government elections, and I also committed myself and my team to upholding ethical and professional journalism. It was signed and supported in the presence of NGO leaders, Project Ukuthula bishops, the Independent Electoral Commission, members of the election task force, and SABC radio news editor-in-chief Barney Mthombothi. Head of the Electoral Code of Conduct Commission, Bishop Stanley Mogoba, fully supported it and agreed to help monitor any breaches. The code was well honoured during the election period. Feedback from the Electoral Institute in 1995 was that Radio Zulu news and it’s special voter education slots had played a crucial role in professionally educating and informing listeners.
With the help of the late press freedom stalwart Raymond Louw, Several of the code clauses were included in the updated Electoral Act of 1998. I first met Raymond at the founding of the South African National Editors’ Forum in Cape Town. I was delighted to be invited by media veteran Joe Thloloe to this media ‘Codesa’ of editors from print, radio, TV, magazines and journalism education. The first time I, as a woman and SABC editor, had a collegiate home! There was an all-male, mainly white Conference of Editors, and a Black Editors Forum… but now we would come together under one umbrella to promote media freedom and facilitate ethical, quality, inclusive reporting to better serve our new democracy.
The first meeting of the new 20 member Sanef national council with President Mandela was especially poignant for me as my immigrant Scottish grandfather was a stonemason, who displayed his craftsmanship on the Union Buildings where the meeting was. It was the first time I had been in that iconic building.
With the gracious, humble yet determined Zwelakhe Sisulu at the helm as CEO a group of us were invited by him to attend a very useful week-long management course at the business school in Joburg.
For the 1999 elections, I was able to draw on our ’94 and ’96 experiences, and the KZN news team served its audiences well with a range of town hall meetings and live debates featuring a wide diversity of views and issues… giving space to newsmakers and ordinary citizens to air their concerns contribute to debates. My experience has shown that discussions about the role and function of the electronic media in a democratic society needs to be carried widely through the whole fabric of society. If ordinary citizens do not see the value of media freedom and the significance of a free media as a building block of democracy then this freedom can be eroded with ease. This is a vital challenge for all media workers as the eyes and ears for reporting truth to power and being a voice for the marginalised in society.
In 1999, I was asked by the visionary and inspirational new Editor-in-Chief, Enoch Sithole, to design and launch a cell-phone news service similar to one just founded in India. I drew up a business plan and set up a task team comprising partners Vodacom, Marketel ( its technical arm) and SABC IT experts, and recruited 4 talented freelance news presenters to produce hourly updates with headlines in a format I adapted from radio news stories to target the ‘news on demand’ needs of cell-phone users. We successfully expanded NewsBreak 082 152 over the next few years to provide options of sports news, matric results, traffic news, election results in four languages, stock exchange prices and isiZulu headline news. My new media brief included developing new platforms for news content, so we trialled news on billboards, video news on DSTV. I also designed and launched a weekly half-hour Focus on Africa television news insert for MHZ networks in Washington, which was produced and presented by talented new media team members Inonge Malumo and Dave Diedericks, as well as Sherwin Bryce-Pease and Mapaseka Makoti.
I was asked by the then head of TV news to take responsibility too for the newly launched SABCnews.com website into my newly titled New Media Unit (formerly Special News Services).
Within 3 years, I’d launched cellphone news in Zimbabwe and Nigeria with Econet Wireless; and revenue was coming into news from all these new platforms.
Meanwhile, as a founding editor of the SA National Editors’ Forum, I was elected to serve on its Council and then as Secretary General for several years. Fellow council member Mary Papayya and I organised Sanef’s 2003 AGM in Durban with the theme ‘Engendering the Media’ which facilitated newsroom editors across print Radio, TV and digital platforms to look with fresh eyes at their stories and diaries.
A glass ceiling survey I instigated as chair of the Corrective Action (Diversity) committee highlighted that there were still sexist and racist practices in some newsrooms, and further steps were taken by editors to be more inclusive on the path to the vision of a democratic, inclusive and ethical media. Input was given on sexual harassment policies for newsrooms, and by the 2nd glass ceiling survey in 2018, some progress had been made with more opportunities for women of all races. Mary, Amina Frense, and I contributed chapters to a booklet on gender and media.
With the strong oral tradition on the African continent, I believe Radio and radio news in a variety of languages will remain popular among audiences, especially as it serves as a foundation for so many digital platforms and synchronizes so well with them. For three years after I ‘retired ‘ from the SABC, I co-ordinated the increasingly popular Miet Africa youth empowerment series of weekly interactive half hour current affairs -type programmes (with panellists comprising a subject expert; and a young scholar) Our scripts covered relevant requested issues such as Covid safety, climate action, education, cyberbullying, child marriages, entrepreneurship etc. The various Youth Talk series (7 languages broadcast on 9 stations in Lesotho; Malawi; Zambia and Zimbabwe) broadcast to a total of 18 million listeners. We used the combined power of Radio, text messages, WhatsApp voice notes and other social media platforms.
The capacity of relevant and well-produced news and information programmes to empower audiences and improve their lives cannot be underestimated.
Many dedicated staff at the SABC, despite the lows and challenges of unethical, corrupt or biased leadership at times over the years, do sterling and innovative work. Following the sterling leadership of CEO Peter Matlare and Enoch, I unfortunately clashed with two subsequent news chiefs, who had different agendas, which I believed undermined our public broadcaster mandate and editorial code. Without encouragement and good leadership (and being thwarted by petty things like my office and Amina’s – the only 2 senior woman editors at the time- being given to someone else while we were out of town), it was harder to innovate and thrive with battles on the go.
At one stage, I faced charges of ‘defiance and insubordination’ for standing firm on my beliefs. Other editors refused to be on the disciplinary panel and the charges were dropped after my union representative and the head of Human Capital said they were “nonsense” and I’d done nothing wrong. Peter Matlare and finance head Itani Tsetsei, Enoch and Barney and Phil Molefe had supported my vision for growth potential and revenue generation on digital platforms, with a range of business partners, so it was a sad day when they left the SABC. Phil Molefe later returned as Head of News and in 2010, asked me to pioneer a new strategy to strengthen senior management in the regions. Head of News Research and digital fundi, Izak Minnaar, took over from me at Digital News and I helped take the load off my longtime colleagues in Durban – regional editor Busani Mthembu and later Nhlakanipho Zulu. As Managing Editor, I mainly handled management meetings, budgets, motivations, special broadcast and project planning and training and also filled in as editor or assignment editor when needed.
My connection to SABC news since I left in 2016 is still strong through my roles on the SA Editors’ Forum defending media freedom ans facilitating excellence in journalism. I help organise and speak at training workshops on election reporting; safety and wellness and other important aspects for news staff that help strengthen under – resourced teams as they strive to fulfill the public broadcast mandate and continue to serve our democracy.
Judy Sandison is an award-winning broadcast journalist and editor. She founded the SABC’s new media unit, and has worked as parliamentary reporter, managing editor and regional editor, with a stint as national radio news Editor-in-Chief in 1994.
A founder member of the S.A. National Editors ‘ Forum, she has served on its National Council for more than 25 years in various roles of Secretary General, KZN convenor and chair of the Diversity and Ethics committee. A gender activist, she has been a driving force in several women’s organisations over the years and founded the Pietermaritzburg Rape Crisis Centre ( now part of Lifeline)
