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13 April 2018
Photo Moeketsi Mogotsi
A brisk morning at work in studio with the Breakfast show team, Richard Chemaly, Sam Ludidi and Orefiloe Kelane.
Kovsie FM’s breakfast show is in the race to win the “Best Breakfast Show for Campus Radio” in this year’s Liberty Radio Awards. This comes after the station’s first national radio awards-nomination in the history of Kovsie FM.
The Kovsie FM Breakfast show has evolved over the years, and was dubbed the #MonateFelaBreakfast in January 2018 by co-presenters Richard Chemaly (Chem) and Orefile Kelane (Fifi).
“The one thing you want to avoid when you wake up is being miserable, and the only way you can achieve that is by focusing on being happy,” said Chemaly. This realisation was a crucial turning-point for the show. The hot -duo carried on to say they wanted to make a distinction between themselves and other radio breakfast shows locally and nationally.
Inspired by a need for revolution and a closer relationship with its audience, #MonateFelaBreakfast re-examined and focused the crux of its content on the heartbeat of society, allowing the topical interests of the listeners to determine the subject of discussion or theme choice.
The appeal of the show does not rely on bringing super famous personalities as guests, but to allow up-and-coming artists to use the show as a catalyst to break through to success in their respective industries.
Chemaly and Kelane attribute their chemistry to understanding the old and new school elements of radio. They said transformation also plays an important part in the show’s lucky charm.
Book Prize for Distinguished Scholarship awarded to Dr Christian Williams
2016-03-24
Prof Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the University of the Free State and Dr Christian Williams, senior lecturer at the UFS Department of Anthropology.
Photo: Johan Roux |
When Dr Christian Williams moved from the United States to Namibia in January 2000 as part of the WorldTeach volunteer programme for teachers, he had not anticipated an award-winning piece of scholarship in his future. It was during these visits to Namibia, though, that the seeds for his highly-acclaimed book were sewn.
While volunteering at the St. Therese Secondary School in Tses at that time, Dr Williams – now a senior lecturer at the University of the Free State (UFS) Department of Anthropology – became acquainted with some of the school’s alumni. The stories these individuals started sharing with him soon revealed personal histories of exile and violence by fellow SWAPO (South West Africa People’s Organization) members.
These experiences ultimately resulted in Dr Williams’ book, National liberation in postcolonial southern Africa: a historical ethnography of SWAPO’s exile camps, published last year. Due to the book’s literary impact, the university awarded Dr Williams the UFS Book Prize for Distinguished Scholarship on Friday 19 February 2016. Dr Williams is the second academic to be awarded this prize.
Politics of the past
In the 1960s, Namibians mobilised and retaliated against colonial rule under the liberation movement known as SWAPO. This created political tension which resulted in the flight of many SWAPO members to exile camps administered by the party.
“Over its three decades in exile, SWAPO was responsible for the welfare of roughly 60 000 Namibians. This was about 4% of the total Namibian population at independence – most of whom lived in camps,” says Dr Williams. The research originally used as a basis for his doctoral thesis was subsequently developed into this prize-winning book.
Advancing the Human Project
“It’s an honour to receive recognition from the university; it means that they value the kind of work that I am doing. I think it’s great for universities to have such prizes,” Dr Williams says.
Supporting the UFS Human Project, Dr Williams will donate a portion of the R25 000 prize money towards the UFS Student Bursary Fund Campaign, as well as the school in Namibia.The rest will subsidise the purchase of the book for distribution to libraries and as gifts.