Radio Freedom (ANC)

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Radio Freedom (German: Radio Freiheit , possibly Radio Independence ) was a political radio broadcaster of the African National Congress with broadcasting locations in various African countries, which was active between 1963 and 1991. He belongs to the group of clandestine radios . The station's full name was Radio Freedom. Voice of the African National Congress and Umkhonto We Sizwe, the People's Army .

history

Early attempts to develop an ANC radio

After the ANC and PAC were banned, a radio station started operating from a small broadcasting station near Johannesburg . The program began in June 1963 with an address by Walter Sisulu . In the course of the arrest of important representatives of the ANC and MK on July 11, 1963 at Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia , the transmitter was also confiscated. It was only six years after this event that continuous radio operations could be resumed, but then only from abroad.

The African National Congress described mobile actions in densely populated urban areas with loudspeaker vehicles as ANC broadcast . The sympathizers had previously been called to a named place at a certain time in order to convey political information to those gathered there via audio recordings. One such action took place on June 26, 1968 in Johannesburg between 5 and 6 p.m. not far from Park Station , on what was then Freedom Day .

Broadcasting as a factor in the process of decolonization

On June 25, 1962, the Tanganyika Broadcasting Corporation started , where Julius Nyerere was elected President of the Republic of Tanganyika , founded on June 9, that same year . The broadcasting company saw itself as a media trailblazer for African liberation movements. It also directed its broadcast programs to listeners in territories of what is now Malawi , Zambia and Zimbabwe . In the early 1960s, the broadcaster granted programming time for UNIP from Kenneth Kaunda .

The South African Minister of Posts and Telegraphs complained on August 23, 1966 that broadcasts from Radio Tanzania in Dar es Salaam were causing interference to radio stations in South Africa.

With the establishment of the international service of Radio Tanzania in 1968 , with its help, the spread of political programs in the process of decolonizing Africa via radio took off. Eight groups then used the information opportunities that this provided. These were the organizations ANC, PAC, SWAPO , ZANU , ZAPU , MPLA , FRELIMO , MOLINACO , UNLF and FROLIZI .

Development of a permanent radio program for the ANC

In 1969 the ANC leadership asked the government of Tanzania for airtime on Radio Tanzania's program . The request was approved with a daily broadcast time of 15 minutes.

Three years later, in 1972, on the initiative of Duma Nokwe , the Secretary General of the ANC, Radio Zambia gave 45 minutes of short-wave transmission time. Other African radio stations followed this example, such as Radio Luanda in 1977 , Radio Madagascar in 1979 and Radio Ethiopia in 1981 . Radio Zimbabwe also granted airtime from 1981. The reaction of the apartheid regime from South Africa to this radio initiative took the form of so-called tribal radios on lower VHF frequencies. It was intended to isolate the local non-white population from the influences of the ANC on the frequency ranges of the shortwave used by it . The then Minister of Posts and Telegraphs , Albert Hertzog , justified the government's approach based on the alleged model of the Volksempfänger from Nazi Germany.

With the development of Radio Freedom , the need to maintain your own recording studios arose . This required training opportunities for future radio makers and the acquisition of recording and transmission technology. When three more stations were opened in 1976, the need for radio professionals for Radio Freedom became an acute problem. The ANC Camp Novo Catengue set up in Angola performed tasks in the military field and offered political training courses. There were courses in media work there. In 1979 the South African Air Force attacked the camp during the Angolan Civil War .

A professor at the University of Cape Town selected people he found suitable for training as speakers. They attended courses in the Angolan Novo Catengue . Some of them completed further training at the International Lenin School in Moscow . The level of training at this location found different levels of acceptance among the participants. From this group of people came the radio employees who opened a radio station for Radio Freedom in Luanda, the capital of Angola, in 1977 . The problem with training persisted for many years. Later employees studied at the Polytechnic School of Harare , and also to institutions in Ghana , the Netherlands , Zambia and Tanzania , but also in the GDR , Cuba , Romania and the Soviet Union . There were internships at broadcasters in the GDR and the Soviet Union.

In the Netherlands, sympathizers of the ANC broadcaster have been found since 1982, who became known as Omroep Voor Radio Freedom and with whose help funds were raised for this task among radio actors.

The program design and difficulties encountered

The daily radio program consisted of news, commentary and music. Programs with a duration of 30 minutes, in which 10 minutes were built in for news and short comments on current events, were typical. Radio Freedom had no official correspondents in South Africa or any other country. To obtain information, one was dependent on interlocutors in exile or undercover correspondents. For these reasons, some reports could be up to three weeks old. The editorial work was heavily dependent on the news from the BBC or from South African newspapers. A few people, as cross-border commuters, obtained information from the respective neighboring countries. The program design was made even more difficult because the broadcaster could hardly maintain contact with high representatives of the ANC. For reporting on official ANC positions, one was therefore dependent on reports from the BBC.

In South African township settlements , there were groups of ANC supporters who tried to spread the word about Radio Freedom's programs among the residents. Nevertheless, the actual impact of the station must not be overestimated. However, he made a contribution to the politicization of some listeners and to maintaining informal contacts between the exile leadership of the ANC and its supporters in South Africa. The station broadcast songs of the liberation movement in South Africa, which are said to have originated in MK camps.

One of the biggest acceptance problems in the daily work of Radio Freedom was the lack of contact with its listeners. The editor in Lusaka, who dealt with the audience letters program , reported that in some months two or three letters reached his office. The station manager of Radio Freedom in Madagascar said that the listeners were concerned that their letters could be intercepted by the South African government.

Media historical parallel events

The ANC's media presence with a radio station was closely related to the establishment of a state broadcaster for the non-white population in South Africa. The introduction of transmission frequencies in the VHF / FM system at the beginning of the 1960s enabled the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) to selectively expand its activities. At the beginning of 1962, Radio Bantu began operating in four African languages. At the beginning there were 16 broadcast hours a day in isiZulu and South Sotho and 9 broadcast hours in North Sotho and Setswana .

The establishment of a Bantu radio program was initiated in 1960 on the basis of the Broadcasting Amendment Act .

Broadcasting stations, frequencies and program times

to

Radio Luanda

The station from Luanda, Angola could be heard on:

from 7.30 p.m. daily

Radio Lusaka

The station from Lusaka in Zambia could be heard on:

  • Shortwave: in the 31 meter band, on 9,580 kHz
7.15pm to 8.00pm Monday to Friday
22.05 to 22.35 Wednesday
10.30pm to 11pm Friday
7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Saturday
8:00 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. Saturday, on 17.895 kHz

Radio Madagascar

The station from Madagascar could be heard on:

  • Short wave: in the 49 meter band. on 6.135 kHz
9.30pm to 10pm daily

Radio Ethiopia

The station from Ethiopia could be heard on:

  • Short wave: in the 31 meter band. on 9,545 kHz
9.30pm to 10pm daily

Radio Tanzania

The station from Tanzania could be heard on:

  • Short wave: in the 19 meter band. on 15,435 kHz
Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday
from 8.15 p.m.
  • Short wave: in the 31 meter band
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday
from 6.15 a.m.

Employee

  • Sam Makhudu Gulube worked for Radio Freedom at the ANC headquarters in Lusaka between 1978 and 1979 .
  • Pallo Jordan had been the director of Radio Freedom since 1977 .
  • Lindiwe Mabuza , radio journalist from 1977 to 1979 in Lusaka, where she was the chair of the ANC's Cultural Committee during the same period .
  • Baleka Mbete worked from 1977 to 1981 within the ANC Department of Information and Publicity at Radio Freedom in Dar es Salaam.
  • Joel Netshitenzhe , as a former deputy head of the ANC Department of Information and Publicity , he also worked for Radio Freedom while in exile .
  • Thami Nteteni was director of Radio Freedom until 1991 .
  • Jeff Radebe worked as a journalist for Radio Freedom in Dar es Salaam for two years after 1977 .

Honors

The Banner of Hope memorial in Johannesburg's Newtown district, based on a design by the Dutch anti- apartheid activist Truus Menger , commemorates the work of the station. It is a gift from Dutch donors and was unveiled on September 22, 1995 for the Radio Freedom Institute of Broadcast Journalism (German: Radio Freedom Institute for Radio Journalism).

criticism

In the final report of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), a document by the former armed forces is mentioned, according to which the effect of the station was assessed as particularly dangerous. According to this, the radio work, perceived as a call for a climate of hatred and violence (SADF monitoring: "... communicate a message of intense hatred and the instigation of a climate of violence ...") is supposed to make 13,540 employees of the former security forces between 1984 and attacked in 1990. This effect was ascribed to a journalistic argument that was said to have been broadcast on April 4, 1990 by Radio Freedom on Radio Angola as follows: “If you do not throw your weapons into the sea, then use them against the racist army and police, who are upholding the inhuman system. ”(German for example: If you don't throw your weapons into the sea, then you will turn against the racist army and police, which uphold the inhuman system.). The TRC estimated that although the broadcaster was involved in the climate of violence, a direct link between broadcasting activity and the large number of human rights violations listed in the SADF report could not be established.

The dissatisfaction with the reporting by the South African state broadcaster SABC led to a demonstration on August 25, 1990 in front of the headquarters of the company in Johannesburg. It has become known as March on the SABC (German: March to the SABC). The democratization of state television and radio was called for. The demonstration was part of the Campaign for Open Media , which was headed by former editor-in-chief of Rand Daily Mail , Raymond Louw .

Musical reception

The hit 3 am eternal by the British group KLF used part of the transmitter jingle in its ramp , in which the announcement “This is Radio Freedom…” was musically processed with subsequent machine gun fire.

In the original, on Radio Freedom , the broadcasts actually began with a sequence of machine gun fire. In this way, the ANC deliberately wanted to stand out from the South African state radio in stark contrast to the Radio South Africa song in Afrikaans , Ver in die wêreld, Kittie .

Station with a similar name

There were other stations in South Africa that could be confused with Radio Freedom because of their name :

  • Freedom Radio , 1942 by English-speaking staff at SABC
  • Freedom Radio , sending 1956 Natal by members of the Federal Party supports
  • Radio Vryheid , a station for propagating right-wing Boer politics
  • Radio Freedom , no longer accessible internet medium , formerly based in Sandton .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sekibakiba Peter Lekgoathi: The African National Congress's Radio Freedom and its audiences in apartheid South Africa, 1963-1991 . In: Journal of African Media StudyV, vol. 2 (2010), No. 2, pp. 139–153. Abstract on www.opc-ascl.oclc.org  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / opc-ascl.oclc.org  
  2. ↑ a b Lebonah Mosiah, Charles Riddle, Jim Zaffiro: From Revolutionary to regime Radio: Three Decades of nationalist Broadcasting in Southern Africa . In: Africa Media Review, Vol. 8 (1994), No. 1. pp. 3, 7-9.
  3. ↑ Lebona Mosia, Don Pinnock, Charles Riddle: Warring in the Ether . In: Rhodes Journalism Review, Vol. 4 (July 1992), pp. 39-43 (PDF; 1.4 MB)
  4. ^ ANC leader Walter Sisulu is convicted and sentenced to six years in prison for contravening the unlawful Organizations Act. on www.sahistory.org.za
  5. ↑ Mosia, Riddle, Zaffiro: Three Decades . 1994, p. 7
  6. ↑ Sechaba, September 1968. pp. 1-2. on www.disa.ukzn.ac.za ( Memento of the original from December 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 1.8 MB) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.disa.ukzn.ac.za
  7. ^ The ANC calls for a day of protest and observes this day as 'South Africa Freedom Day' for the first time. on www.sahistory.org.za
  8. ^ The SA minister of posts and telegraphs complains that Radio Tanzania's broadcasts from Dar-es-Salaam ... on www.sahistory.org.za
  9. ^ Mosia, Pinnock, Riddle: Warring in the Ether , 1992, p. 41
  10. ^ A b Mosia, Riddle, Zaffiro: Three Decades . 1994, p. 8
  11. ↑ Nelson Mandela Foundation : Broadcasters for Radio Freedom / Omroep voor Radio Freedom (OvRF) ( Memento from May 23, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
  12. ^ SAIRR : A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa 1963 . Johannesburg 1964, pp. 278-279
  13. ^ SAIRR: Survey 1959–1960 . 1961, p. 260
  14. ↑ Channel list. In: Sechaba, July 1985, PDF document page 3
  15. ^ Secretary for Defense and Military Veterans, Dr. Sam Makhudu Gulube . at www.dod.mil.za
  16. ↑ ComRadio vital in struggle. Interview at Voice of the Cape with Pallo Jordan. on www.vocfm.co.za
  17. ↑ Who's Who of Southern Africa: Lindiwe Mabuza . on whoswho.co.za (English; archive version)
  18. ↑ Profile of Baleka Mbete on www.apps.gcis.gov.za ( Memento of the original from March 6, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / apps.gcis.gov.za
  19. ↑ Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection: Joel Netshitenzhe - Executive Director ( Memento of October 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
  20. ↑ Government of South Africa: Government leaders: Jeffrey Thamsanqa Radebe, Mr . on www.info.gov.za (English)
  21. ↑ Brief information on the district website. at www.newtown.co.za
  22. ↑ Illustration of the monument. on newtown.co.za
  23. ↑ Poster for the unveiling of the monument. Digital collection of the International Institute for Social History, Amsterdam. at www.search.socialhistory.org
  24. ^ TRC final report, Vol. 4, Chapter 6, Section 2, p. 170. at www.sabctrc.saha.org.za
  25. ↑ The poster for the demonstration. Digital collection of the International Institute for Social History, Amsterdam. at www.search.socialhistory.org
  26. ↑ Call for Campaign for Open Media. at www.fxi.org.za ( Memento of the original from January 2, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 246 kB) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.fxi.org.za
  27. ^ Robert B. Horwitz: Communication and Democratic Reform in South Africa . Cambridge, New York, Cambridge University Press, 2001, pp. 128–129, ISBN 0-521-79166-9 ( limited preview in Google Book Search)
  28. ↑ Cornelis Henricus (Hendrik) Susan. at www.boeremusiek.org.za
  29. ^ Charles Riddle: This is Freedom Radio. (again and again and again ...) . In: Rhodes Journalism Review, Vol. 9 (December 1994), p. 17. at www.rjr.ru.ac.za (PDF; 285 kB) ( table of contents )
  30. ↑ Radio Freedom, Internet radio and Internet television from Sandton via livestream ( memento of the original from August 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.radiofreedommedia.co.za