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Dr Tshepo Moloi co-edits new book on guerrilla radios

11 January 2021 | Story Thabo Kessah | Photo Supplied

Guerrilla Radios_Cover pages_web read more — The new book that Dr Tshepo Moloi has co-edited puts a spotlight on liberation struggle radios.

Dr Tshepo Moloi from the Qwaqwa Campus Department of History is the co-editor of a new book called Guerrilla Radios in Southern Africa: Broadcasters, Technology, Propaganda Wars, and the Armed Struggle.

This book is a collection of eleven essays on the histories of the radios attached to the armed wings of the liberation movements in the region. “This book is a shift from a parochial approach, which tended to analyse guerrilla radios within the framework of the nation state. It focuses on the experiences of the broadcasters and listeners during the era of the armed struggle. Using archival sources such as sound recordings of the guerrilla radio stations, together with interviews conducted with former broadcasters and listeners, the essays contained in this volume ask complex questions about the social histories of these stations,” said Dr Moloi.

Dr Moloi added that the essays explore the workings of propaganda and counter-propaganda and probe the effects that the radios had on the activists and supporters of the liberation movements – and, on the other hand, on the colonial counter-insurgency projects. They examine the relationships that these radios have forged at their multiple sites of operation in host countries, and also look at international solidarity and support, specifically for radio broadcasting initiatives.

Role played by guerrilla radio

“Our volume pushes the frontiers of knowledge production beyond exploration of broadcast content towards a more nuanced conception of radio as a medium formed by social and political processes. Guerrilla radio broadcasting, we argue, became a very powerful technology for disseminating insurgent propaganda messages of the liberation movements and for mobilising African workers, peasants, students and youth in the struggle against white minority domination in the entire region. From Angola to Mozambique, and from Zimbabwe to Namibia through to South Africa, the modern technology of radio has provided the liberation movements in exile with a platform for an aural or sonic presence among the followers of the liberation movements back home. It has become an effective instrument for propagating the ideologies of the liberation movements, as well as for countering the propaganda messages of the oppressive white minority regimes,” he added.

Conceptualisation of the book

He also revealed the thinking behind the book. “The concept arose from the realisation that despite the explosion of research on liberation struggles in Southern Africa, such as memoirs, biographies, and autobiographies of prominent leaders of the movements, as well as a scattering of (auto)biographies of the foot soldiers, there remained a dearth of studies on the media that the liberation movements employed, particularly radio.”

Other editors are Sekibakiba Peter Lekgoathi, a professor of History at Wits University and Prof Alda Romão Saúte Saíde from Pedagogic University in Maputo, Mozambique. The project was funded by the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences’ (NIHSS) Catalytic Research Project.

News Archive

UFS discontinues one Masters programme

2006-07-26

As from next year, the University of the Free State (UFS) will no longer offer one of its specialist master’s degrees in education – the M Ed in Education Management.

The other six M Ed programmes that are currently being offered at the UFS will continue as normal.

The decision to discontinue one of the M Ed programmes follows a national review of M Ed programmes in Educational Management and Leadership by the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC) of the Council on Higher Education (CHE).

Of the 23 tertiary institutions whose M Ed programmes in Educational Management and Leadership were reviewed by the HEQC, only 7 received full accreditation.

“The findings of the HEQC affect only one of our M Ed degree programmes, namely the M Ed in Educational Management,” said Prof Magda Fourie, Vice-Rector: Academic Planning at the UFS

“We will be paying full attention to the findings of the HEQC with a view to correcting some of the shortcomings that have been identified by the HEQC and will consider submitting a reviewed proposal for such a qualification in two years time,” she said.

According to Prof Fourie, the programme currently has 30 students enrolled. “These students – spread across their first and second years of the degree programme – will be allowed to complete their studies with the full support of the UFS and the School of Education,” said Prof Fourie.

“The qualification that has been awarded to students who have already completed their studies for this specific M Ed in Education Management degree programme remains a valid qualification and is not affected by the HEQC review,” said Prof Fourie.

She said the UFS welcomed the efforts of the HEQC to ensure that all academic programmes offered by higher education institutions meet certain standards.

“One of the primary problem areas in the M Ed in Educational Management offered by the UFS identified by the HEQC, was that the programme is too practice orientated and must be more theoretical to comply with the academic requirements of a master’s degree. This was a result of the fact that the programme was initially compiled in consultation with principals and the provincial Department of Education to address their needs,” said Prof Fourie.

“The UFS will in the mean time offer an advanced certificate in Educational Management and Leadership from next year. This is a new course that will stretch over a period of two years and will ensure that we can still address the needs of teachers and principals,” said Prof Fourie.

“The UFS remains committed to providing top quality degree programmes in all its six faculties and will continue to work with the HEQC in ensuring that this actually happens,” said Prof Fourie.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel: (051) 401-2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
25 July 2006

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