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Freedom Is Using Media To Describe South Africa Accurately
Media provide the marker of how free and equal a nation is, and our media have fallen short.
By Okhule Dotwana
Igrew up in a tranquil, affluent suburb with lots of trees, lots of space and lots of anything I wanted.
I have a mother. I have a father. They are married. They are university graduates from Fort Hare. One has an LLM (Master of Laws) and the other a BA Honours.
My parents, four siblings, nephew and I live in the same house. It is a beautiful house, with a sparkling swimming pool that my 6-year-old nephew loves. He had a dog called Puppy, but someone stole it. Three siblings and I are university graduates, and one is a university graduate-in-the-making.
My reality could be something out of a Kathy and Mark book. In fact, including the stolen dog, it’s exactly like the Kathy and Mark books. However, in Kathy and Mark books it is not black people who are living this reality.
When I was in grade one. I had a kind teacher who loved to hug us and pinch our cheeks. At a chosen time every week, she would stand in front of the class with her lovely Johnson’s Baby Powder smell and her ample gold bracelets tinkling and announce that it’s time to practice reading and writing, and we would delve into the world of Kathy and Mark. They were a white American brother and sister who lived a privileged life. Then, after reading about their adventures, we would write it out in our workbooks.
This was 1996, only two years after South Africa’s first democratic elections. So I understand why a class of black children were still inundated with images of affluent white people, and black people who only come into the picture when white people needed to have their houses cleaned. We were still just coming into our democracy; new books had not been written and printed. More pressing issues were on the new government’s agenda.
Sixteen years later, I am a university student. It makes me happy … actually, not happy … Let’s say satisfied. Happy suggests that the work is complete, while satisfied acknowledges that some strides have been made, but we have a long way to go. I am satisfied that some books show images of black people.
Back then, common images of black people included the maid who cleans the house and looks after the children, the gardener who is quite old, but the white children call him by his first name anyway, and the handyman with “shifty eyes,” a “dishonest demeanour” and “lightning quick fingers” who will steal if no one is watching over him. We endured all manner of ignorant and racist representations.
Today, I am satisfied. I would be happy if present-day media, would reflect a broad spectrum of the realities of all black people in South Africa.
The major visual medium in South Africa is television. More people watch TV than read books — sometimes because of access and other times because of preference. Albeit much more subtle, historical representations are still evident in programming on South African television. It is almost as though the SABC channels (for which viewers do not need to pay extra) have made it a mission to reject as many positive (and realistic) representations of black South Africans as they possibly can.
I have lost count of the number of times I have switched off SABC 1 (which ironically, is aimed at black people) because of the disheartening and disgusting way black people are represented. This particular channel prides itself on being the voice of black youth in South Africa. Most of the programming focuses on black people who live in townships (or “Kasi” as they are affectionately called by SABC 1).
In programs such as Zone 14, Generations and Tshisa (all SABC 1), it is common to find that black South Africans now have no future and are not interested in intellectual pursuits such as reading or going to school. They have been raised by a single mother. A typical South African does not know who his or her father is or have a good relationship with him. It is someone whose family members are dying every day thanks to HIV. It is someone whose mother sells alcohol to make a living (affectionately known as a shebeen queen) and who lives in a matchbox-size house with many other people. It is a female who sleeps around and whose highest aspiration is to marry a sugar daddy. It is a man who likes getting drunk, getting into fights in which someone gets killed.
Eighteen years into our freedom as black South Africans, these are the prevailing images about us. Clearly, some of these images are a reality for many black South Africans. Many are living in matchbox-size houses with many family members. Many are dying as a result of AIDS. Many are being raised by single mothers. And some among us get into drunken fights or marry men for their money.
My concern with South African media is that they suggest black people should be PROUD of such a life. This is evident in the way
unsavoury practices have been given petnames to make them sound acceptable and enjoyable. In the black community, both rich and poor frown on the sale of alcohol. Yet media have given it a term of endearment, “shebeen queen.” Living in the township is not an ideal for many black people; and yet the media have made it sound nice by calling it “Kasi.”
In my first year of media studies, we were introduced to media effects theories. I wonder when I see these programmes, what media effects are taking root among viewers and to what end?
As a black person who grew up in the suburbs and who has absolutely no identification with “Kasi” lifestyle, I was referred
to as a “coconut.” This is a derogatory term for a black person who “acts like” a white person. In my belief, this word and the mindset that accompanies it is indicative of the effects that media representations could possibly be having on many South Africans, black and white.
This “acting white” is always attributed to actions that are developmental for the person doing them. For example, in my high school years, I would choose to go to the library and read during second break. I was accused of “acting white” because I didn’t drink alcohol, never went to parties and had taken a vow to abstain from sex until I am married. I liked going to church, and I listened to my parents’ instructions. I was told I “think I’m better” (stuck-up).
My cousin, who was in matric at the time, was studying for her final exams when friends (who also were in matric) came over and asked her to hang out. She said she had to study. They told her she’s a “model c” (a snob), left in a huff and never spoke to her again. These are the attitudes held by black people of black people who do not match and, indeed, challenge and subvert, the images of black people in South African media.
Resistance to positive representations of black South Africans also is becoming evident in the media aimed at white people. South African media aimed mostly at white people recently have been saturated with attacks on affluent young black people. Black South Africans such as businessman Kenny Kunene and politician Julius Malema have been crucified for what the media call “excessive and wasteful spending.” This (somewhat patronising) disapproval occurs when they are seen wearing high-end brands like Louis Vuitton, throw expensive parties, buy private jets or add to their collection of luxury cars. Interestingly, this same disapproval is not attributed to white people when they engage in the exact same “excessive and wasteful spending.”
I believe media provide a marker of how free and equal a nation is. Unfortunately, the South African media have fallen short of equal and accurate representations of black people. Until the day when black South Africans can watch TV or read the paper without being insulted and/ or patronised and until white South Africans can do the same while rejecting those representations because they are a deterrent to our democracy, we do not deserve to call our society free.
Toni Morrison said, “… just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else.”
There is no denying the power of media in influencing perceptions and promulgating stereotypes. Freedom is using media to describe South Africa accurately for the South African mindset.
