Profile: John Perlman

A well-known radio host in South Africa shares intelligence and empathy over the airwaves, writes Heather Dugmore. It’s the . . .

Voice of John Perlman

In a world of content bias, fake news and social media agendas, John Perlman (BA 1981, BA Hons 1982), is a seasoned journalist with a trusted opinion, who is interested in all points of view.

“I love the immediacy of radio; it’s a blessed job,” says Perlman, who hosts the afternoon drive show on 702. “It puts you in direct contact with what so many different South Africans are thinking and feeling. There are always robust political debates, but people also phone in with profound and amusing anecdotes about everyday life.”

A recent example: he asked listeners what little things they kept after a family member passed away. “This guy phones in and says he kept his recently deceased mother’s last pay slip,” Perlman recounts. “He said it was for R2 000 a month compared to his salary of more than R100 000 a month, and it always reminded him of what she had done to give him the opportunity to be where he was now.”

Then there was the question he posed as to whether traffic cops took bribes. “One guy calls in and says, ‘John, have you ever seen a traffic cop at an ATM?’.”

This is his 26th year in radio and he has been inducted into South Africa’s Radio Hall of Fame after winning numerous national awards. Prior to 702 he was with Kaya FM for 13 years, and before that he presented the news programme AM Live on national radio at SAfm for nine years. He left SAfm after standing up to the SABC and publicly opposing political censorship at the national broadcaster. This prompted a commission of inquiry, and in October 2006 the report confirmed what Perlman had said, finding that there was a blacklist of commentators whom SABC staff were instructed not to consult.

Perlman’s colours have always been nailed to the mast of freedom of the media, equality and democ racy. He says this ethos was honed at Wits, where, in 1977, he started a BA in history, politics and south ern Sotho. “It was a time of huge turbulence in the country, the Soweto uprisings were the year before and Wits was a contested space,” he says.

“I come from a liberal family, but being at Wits deepened my understanding of apartheid, democ racy and freedom of thought, and I learnt to read, research and think. It was incredibly interesting be ing at Wits; every element was aimed at encouraging maximum use of your brain to grapple with ideas.”

To help fund his studies he did a number of part-time jobs. “I made toasted sandwiches in the Senate House canteen in the evenings and on Saturday mornings for the part-time students. I did market research, I was a waiter, a barman and a door-to-door dishwashing liquid salesman. Wits had this wonder ful ‘jobs book’ and I got all my jobs this way.”

On weekends he could be found watching football games in township stadiums. “I loved football from a young age,” he says. His decision to study Sesotho was inspired by football as he wanted to be able to communicate and connect with fellow fans in the stadiums.

He was also involved in the South African Voluntary Services, and during varsity holidays they would go to the rural areas to build classrooms. “As a student I gained a rich connection to township and rural South Africa and this has been a thread throughout my life,” says Perlman.

YouTube: Dreamfields Project

He returned to many of these communities after he founded The Dreamfields Project in 2007. The NGO provides football and netball equipment, coaching and league programmes for primary school children in South Africa’s townships and rural areas.

Over the past 17 years, Dreamfields has invested more than R160-million in these communities, about 70% of that in rural areas, and has emerged as one of the best sports development projects in the country.

“I started Dreamfields with a view to making sure that township and rural children got to share in the dream of the 2010 World Cup,” Perlman explains.

“A World Cup is a very mixed blessing: it’s a beautiful spectacle and wonderful opportunity for a country, but it also brings out the worst in human behaviour. It brings out a lot of greed and hypocrisy because fundamentally it is driven by money and big business. Ahead of our World Cup, ordinary South Africans were told there would many opportunities for small businesses, but there were very few. “I decided I could either complain about what wasn’t 17 Years of Dreamfields being done, or go out and do it myself. I wanted Dreamfields to have strong South African roots, so almost all of our fundraising focused on SA companies, because they would stay with us once the World Cup show moved on. We’ve had incredible support over the years but there is still so much work to be done.”

He managed to secure two founding partners for Dreamfields: Old Mutual for three years and BHP Billiton for eight. From there it became easier to attract other sponsors, most recently the Roy McAlpine Charitable Foundation. The entire Dreamfields Project is run by a team of nine. One of the founding members is entrepreneur Graham Bath (BCom 1976), who started the Woolworths MySchool programme. “He has been the spine of Dreamfields, bringing with him all the systems and financial skills that I didn’t have,” says Perlman.

“Another is Silas Mashava, an astoundingly brilliant man who has been with us since the outset and who brought Dreamfields to life in the township and rural areas.” Initially they built about 25 football fields in communities throughout the country. “We don't do that anymore, partly because fields cost a lot, but also because we handed these facilities over to municipalities and that brought lots of challenges in the longer term.” Today they run 22 programmes in nine provinces, involving 396 schools, over 70  000 children and 63 community football and netball clubs. They provide young football and netball players with all the equipment they need: boots and sneakers, full sets of kit, medals and trophies, goalposts and netball poles.

Many of the kids come from very stressed environments where their dreams are constrained, and they really enjoy the five-a-side games.

“We believe that every child who wants to play should play. So we set up mass participation DreamLeagues in every participating school, with well-organised five-a-side football and mini-netball games every week. We have hired around 200 young adults from the communities to coach and run the DreamLeagues. To develop their coaching skills, we have workshops throughout the year, including accredited qualifications from Netball South Africa. We also inspire excellence by running special clinics for the best players in each sport, and by hosting DreamEvent tournaments.

“We want all kids to enjoy football and netball, not just the kids who are selected for teams. We all know that sport is so good for their health and discipline, it helps them focus better in class and they have a lot of fun. Many of the kids come from very stressed environments where their dreams are constrained, and they really enjoy the five-a-side games.”

One young player is now in the Orlando Pirates junior team, another at Sundowns and three at AmaZulu. Several other young footballers are being considered for the School of Excellence and several young netball players have made provincial sides and gone on to the national championships.

In northern KwaZulu-Natal, Dreamfields began working in the KwaMbonambi area in late 2022. Within a year, the girls of Umbonambi primary had made astonishing progress. Their under-12 and under-13 netball teams finished the season as provincial champions, which qualified them for the national finals. The older girls finished fifth out of 56 teams , a remarkable achievement. And the under-12s came home with the bronze medal, finishing third out of 47 teams. One of the male netball coaches is in the South African men’s netball team.

“Last year we also started offering athletics coaching in partnership with the University of Pretoria,” says Perlman. “Over 250 teachers and community coaches from 100 schools in Limpopo and Mpumalanga have done the first level athletics coaching course.”

After 17 years Dreamfields continues to inspire him: “Every time we present kids with their school’s kit it is special. On one occasion on the Cape Flats, one of the sponsors came to me and said the boots were too small. I found it really strange as we check all the sizes in advance and so I went to investigate and found the boots still had the paper in the toes. In that moment I realised that these children had never had anything new.

“In a similar vein, we often get kids still playing with the labels in their shirts long after they have received them. They don’t want to cut them off. They absolutely love their kit even though it belongs to the school. They love that they come out on the field looking like a team, like professional players, even if they are playing on a very rough field.”

Dreamfields continues to grow steadily without any funding from government but Perlman says the Department of Basic Education has backed the project strongly since they launched, and they work well with the district officials for schools. “What we have built is an inclusive, sustainable model for all kids to play sport and we are really proud of this,” says Perlman.

“It’s something positive in a country where the yard by yard grind for so many is very tough and it’s hard for people to believe in South Africa. We have to build positive things and we need all the smart ideas and brilliant people we have in this country to step up. That is why our universities are so important. There is a profound understanding there of the need for knowledge and tools that have a wider benefit in society."

For more information visit the Dreamfields website. https://sites.google.com/dreamfields project.org/dreamfields/home

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