You have the right, who has the responsibility?

By: Jessica Blase

Global warming and the melting of the ice caps seem like they’ll never affect us, but we could be facing problems of our own. The Makana district which covers Grahamstown, Alicedale and other surrounding areas has a substantial amount of its own environmental problems. Parts of our town are scattered with litter, and there is illegal dumping on street corners and in our rivers. Waste is a major issue as it not being properly regulated as while parts of Grahamstown remain spotless, other parts are left to suffer. There is also grave concern by many residents over access to fresh water as well as the water quality in Grahamstown.

But whose responsibility is it to make sure these problems are eradicated. Most people would argue the Makana Municipality! Well this was what I believed. Placing the blame on the municipality is something we all do quite easily, especially when it comes to the issue of waste and litter in Grahamstown. In a recent interview with Johan Esterhuizen, Assistant Director of Environmental Health and Cleansing, one of the only informed people within the municipality on such issues, this perception of mine was changed. I went in with a strong mind, hoping to address this man with the unacceptable issues of illegal dumping and pollution in some areas of Grahamstown. I came out being awoken to a few explanations from the other side.

Where does Makana’s environmental action start? Well in 2005 Makana set up LEAP (Local Environmental Action Plan) which is at first glance an impressive project, its aim being “towards a vision for the environment of Makana”. After consultation, planning and reviews, the LEAP is now in the implementation phase, well it is at least supposed to be. Don’t feel embarrassed if you have not heard of the project as many residents have not- this being one of its many problems. Even though LEAP is a step in the right direction in local environmental conservation the problem is in the implementation as much of the policy seems to remain just that-policy. ‘It’s just a thick document with ideas, but we need funding for all these things to really happen”, says Esterhuizen.

Even though these plans are often not put into action, Esterhuizen argues that some of the responsibility should fall to the people. “It’s not the municipality’s fault that the streets are dirty, it’s you and me who are the problem”, he says. According to Esterhuizen the municipality has two roles. Firstly they must collect domestic refuse, and secondly that council should provide an area for citizens to dispose of larger waste. This he says is being done, and anything above and beyond this is extra work for them. The litter we see on the road, or the large illegal dump sites was put there by the people, was caused by the people, and they should try taking some responsibility for it.

As much as this is a valid argument, what Esterhuizen is forgetting is the fact that people hardly have the means to get to these designated spots. There is also the problem that people have not been educated as to what illegal dumping is, as well as what the health and safety risks are to this. A recent occurrence opened my mind to the discrepancy in the hierarchy of needs here in Grahamstown. In my efforts to find out about the publics environmental concerns, I spoke to a number of people at Checkers . “What are your greatest environmental concerns”, I ask. The stunned, slightly confused face stares at me and shakes her head before turning around. I try again, “Do you have any problems with your electricity or waste? We are trying to show the municipality your concerns!”, I say. A few seconds pass but this time she responds, “I don’t have electricity mam”. “Oh”, I say, slightly blushing, and ashamed of my naive assumptions.



There are people living in Grahamstown who have greater issues than water quality, because for them fresh water would be a luxury. It really makes you think, that those of us who have the ability and the knowledge to do something about this, really should. There is a dire need for education, both in the hands of the municipality staff and the local public. Yes we can continue blaming the municipality and they can continue blaming us but the reality is that nothing will change. As much as people have the right to a healthy environment, alongside this comes the personal responsibility to keep it clean. Those of us with the ability and the education to do so, should.

Educational poster

This is our educational poster. We have stuck them up all over Grahamstown as well as in community centres and municipality buildings. We hope it will educate people on environemntal issues as well as inform them on what LEAP is.

Maybe a Change

Chenje (1998) said, “People need alternatives to ecologically destructive development practices. All these call for innovative communication skills to which we, as environmental journalists, can contribute.” The Egazini exhibition, held in Extension 6 on Monday, has never bought those words more home to me. We explained our aims and visions to members of a community more severely affected by poor waste management, littering, lack of sanitation, water and electricity issues than most of the Grahamstown public, and more then we will ever experience as middle class and highly privileged students. We played them the audio slides and television outputs produced by our photography, television and radio members of our group. And then we waited, nervous, unsure and slightly anxious about the language barrier as the sound of crunching chips filled the echoing room. One of the men stood up at last. He spoke about the terrible rubbish problems in the community and how sick he feels from the smell when he walks to work, raising concerns about the children who pass the same area. The ball was rolling, the people started talking and the response we got finally showed in practice the role that journalists can play in the community.

Once everyone had agreed that the municipality needs to take a more active role in environmental issues, the members of Extension 6 turned to each other, remarking that it was high time they start to take responsibility for their environment as well. They spoke about how they need to teach themselves and those around them to put their rubbish in the dustbin and the importance of keeping their streets clean. When one individual claimed that they need to stop pointing fingers at the municipality, and start pointing them at themselves, we all exchanged relieved and proud looks.

Bongani, the man who runs the Egazini Community Centre, thanked us for creating the space for the community to reflect on such issues. He also proposed the notion that there are more events where the community can come together and reflect on issues so that they can come up with solutions, instead of waiting for the municipality to sort them out, as well as a mass clean up drive.

After a long semester, filled with hard work, planning and ideas as well as incrediable team work, the experience at Egazini showed what it means to be a journalist. If two people walked away from that, conscious of putting their rubbish in the dustbin then we helped facilitate some sort of change. It is very easy to criticise the municipality from far, but if we are going to start looking after our environment and ourselves, inhibiting the rapid declining state of our world, then we need to start making some changes now. Our media production seemed to generate that idea for a few people and thus, it seems we served our purpose.

At the end of it all...

I didn't think it would ever arrive, but here we are with only our final exhibtion and what I think is a very successful media campaign behind us.

Perhaps the highlights of our media production, for me at least, have been our attempts to engage with ideas of public journalism. Our graffiti-style banner encouraged people to personally voice their concerns about their local environment, in their own words, in their own style and I think the result was a very powerful collective community voice with very real community problems.

Our multimedia exhibition at the Egazini Community Centre, in Extension Six of Joza, was also a kind of public journalism, as we used our more visual media productions to stimulate debate around the issues of waste, water and sanitation. What followed was a very heated debate, again really allowing people to address their concerns on their own terms without a 'professional' journalist dictating the angle of the story. Our role was quite simply to stimulate and then provide a platform for much needed debate about the Municipality's shortcomings and successes. I think that this worked extremely well, particularly since it gave us useful footage to send to the municipality in order for them to be forced to be held accountable for their citizens.

Indeed, one of our most important aims throughout this campaign has been to avoid creating journalism in a vacuum and ensuring that our media production had some meaning outside of the AMM. It was for this reason that our WEPD group has worked hard to get our stories published in various local newspapers as well as distributing our very eye-catching educational posters and our eye-catching banner. In this regard, then, I think we have done well.

It is perhaps too soon to tell just how much of an impact our work will have. Our TV crew's PSA on illegal dumping has been accepted by the municipality to use for educational purposes, which is important for us, as a group who throughout our campaign have not only wanted to investigate the municipality's policy implementation, but also to work alongside them and help them to achieve their environmental objectives to some extent. Our educational posters have been placed around Grahamstown and hopefully, with time, they will at least educate a few people about LEAP and what it is all about. However, we do not assume that our media will have a 'magic bullet' or 'hypodermic needle' effect and magically revolutionise Grahamstown; it will take time and much more effort from those following us.

Our public journalism, however, I think has created an important spark in the Joza community. Not only did it get people thinking about what they weren't getting and what they deserved, it also generated discussion around individual initiatives to fix the problems which the municipality could not seem to get to. This was extremely rewarding for me. It seems as if our media has made some kind of difference - even if the municipality does not take notice (which, to be honest, they have been very prone to do in the past), at least we have encouraged people to pick up their own litter and create their own solutions to their problems.

I didn't think I would ever say it, after weeks spent chasing the ever-evasive municipality and endless hours of brainstorming, but I have really and thoroughly enjoyed being a part of Take A LEAP and creating media that didn't end up in the back of the lecturer's desk drawer and learning about different approaches to being a socially responsible journalist.

Take a LEAP. get to know your municipality and jump right into the work that we have done - I think it will be worth it.

Environmental exhibition sparks heated debate

by Cairen Harry and Tammy Sutherns

Grahamstown community members gathered in the Egazini Community Centre in Joza’s Extension 6 on Monday 20 October to take part in a multimedia exhibition and discussion on environmental issues in the Makana area. The exhibition, entitled “Take a LEAP, get to know your municipality”, was held by Rhodes University third year Journalism students as part of a wider campaign to raise awareness about Makana Municipality’s Local Environmental Action Plan (LEAP).

LEAP was created by the municipality in 2005 in an effort to align the municipality with national environmental policies for sustainable development. However, the implementation of these policies has been slowed down by numerous obstacles, leaving many of Grahamstown’s citizens outraged about continuing problems with waste, water, sanitation and electricity.

The ‘Take a LEAP’ exhibition focused on these and other environmental concerns with the screening of four short documentaries and the display of a graffiti banner and educational posters about the local environment. Two of the documentaries were television segments on litter and waste management in Grahamstown and the other two were audio-visual slides dealing with problems of waste disposal and the bucket toilet system in certain parts of Joza. According to the ‘Take a LEAP’ group, their aim was to encourage debate and discussion in response to their media in order to find out more about people’s environmental concerns as well as make them aware of the municipality’s aims and efforts.

Radio journalist Monique Senekal opened the exhibition by addressing the community and explaining the Take a LEAP campaign. “We are here to show you what we have produced and educate you on the Makana Environmental Policies. We want people to be aware of what the municipality is doing and to really investigate whether they are doing enough for our environment,” she said.

The discussion following the exhibition became quite heated as the community members responded to the presentation by both addressing the municipality as well as their neighbours. Various members of the audience complained that the municipality was not doing enough for the environment, with a general consensus that litter and waste management are huge problems in Joza. One community member spoke about the problems with medical waste, having found his children playing with needles that had not been properly disposed of by local medical centres, while another, Ntombozuko Tiniso, complained about the state of the township roads. “It is high time the municipality do tar in our area. The taxis that drive past are affecting our health,” she said.

However, many of the community members felt that the problem came from the residents themselves. “We all understand the problem of litter, but it starts with the individual at home,” said Extension 6 resident Linga Diko. Another resident, Ayabona Mnqanqeni, agreed. “It is high time we all start to feel responsible for the rubbish in the corners of the street,” he said.

Rhodes University Journalism lecturer Rod Amner, who was present for the discussion, proposed the use of innovative projects in Grahamstown that could aid waste management and the litter problems that are increasingly affecting the community, such as rewards for litter collection which was well received by several members of the audience.

While there is evidently a need for Municipality to address the concerns of the community, Bongani Diko, who runs the Egazini Community Centre concluded the discussion by saying that the community “need to stop pointing fingers and need to come together and learn from each other.” He added that the Egazini centre, which provides a space for local residents to create drama, poetry, dance and visual arts, is an important space for members to come together and reflect on community environmental issues. “There is a lot that we can all do as individuals. I’d like to open more arms, whenever we have something we need to reflect,” he said.

The resident’s concerns will be sent as television footage to the municipality.

The Take a LEAP campaign in part of a third year multimedia group project created to generate media production in terms of local environmental policies, utilizing the students’ skills of writing, radio, photography, design and television. The media produced for the campaign included educational posters to raise awareness about municipality policies and citizens’ rights, a banner where the public could write down their problems and give feedback about their concerns about waste, water and electricity as well as written pieces, audiovisual slides and television broadcasts generating stories around such environmental issues.

Our flyer

This is our flyer which was designed to promote the exhibition we held at Egazini Arts Centre. In practice the flyers were printed on green and orange paper which was a 160grams. This created a professional feel for the event. The flyers were distributed at Checkers and Pick 'n Pay in Grahamstown when we launched our banner campaign.

Group Essay

Work produced by Take a Leap

Audio slide

Our group has composed two audio slide shows: the first dealing with the litter problem in the Grahamstown location, and how this problem is being combated; and the second dealing with the failure of the Makana Municipality to install proper toilets in various areas of the location, despite promises to do so, and the effect this has on residents.

Television

Our TV media output took the form of a PSA and news feature, both regarding illegal dumping in Grahamstown. Although our news piece worked within the framework of standard news conventions our PSA required a creative eye to project emotion into what might be considered an everyday occurance – a child playing amongst dumped litter. This was achieved by first showing a close-up of a child playing, and only afterwards revealing the dump in which she is playing.

In addition to our PSA and news story we are also making a short collage of snippets of what our group of environmental activists have been up to. This will include shots of our banner, speaking to people about their environmental concerns, handing out posters and team meetings.

WED

As a WED group we have produced a number of items. First we produced two stories for Oppi Press, relating to the Albany water crisis and the other to energy saving light bulbs. Both these stories had vox pops as well as side bars telling people how to save electricity etc. Our other two stories will appear in Grahamstown this week, one being an opinion on Makana’s environmental policy implementation and the other a feedback on our Egazeni exhibition. We have also produced an educational banner which informs the people of Grahamstown what LEAP is and what their environmental rights are. Lastly we have produced a bilingual banner, which people from all over the town wrote their environmental concerns on.

Vision and Objectives

The environment is arguably the biggest global crisis of our time. Human beings continue to ‘develop’ and progress but to the detriment of the natural world and as predictions of what the future holds for our planet become increasingly bleak, it is more clear now than ever that something drastic needs to be done. While this environmental responsibility certainly falls to each and every individual, without effective policies and legislation in place from governing authorities the battle for the environment will be a losing one. It is of crucial importance that environmental policies are not only put in place, which does in fact seem to be happening, but also that they are properly implemented on both national and local levels.

It is in this regard that perhaps one of our group’s defining aims was to closely scrutinize Makana Municipality’s local environmental policies the ways in which they have, or have not, been effectively implemented. Indeed, one of our most important objectives was investigation. The municipality should be held accountable for the citizens of Grahamstown and part of that is carrying out that which it has proposed to do – particularly when this concerns the crucial topic of the environment, which can have a very real and direct impact on people’s lives. We hoped to look closely at the municipality’s Local Environmental Action Plan (LEAP) and find the discrepancies between policy and implementation and, where necessary, expose the municipality’s shortcomings or successes through investigate reporting.

Our vision for our group, however, was not simply to criticize what was or was not being done and leave it at that, but rather to use that information to facilitate change and to use our media outputs to work alongside the municipality’s aims and goals in some capacity, thus using our media to help the municipality to make a difference to the environment. One of our main objectives was to educate people and raise awareness about what the LEAP policies actually are and what they entail, as research we conducted indicated that most people actually knew very little about the municipality’s environmental policies. At the same time we wanted to encourage people to do their ‘bit’ for the environment by, for example, picking up litter and not dumping waste illegally. We would place ourselves, then, at around five on the scale of the second spectrum; while not pandering to or being the mouthpiece of the municipality and investigating the implementation of its policies, we also wanted to ‘advertise’ some of the municipality’s success stories and try to promote their aims and efforts in a kind of development journalism capacity.

We do, however, see ourselves as working mostly for the people. On spectrum one, we would place ourselves at around four on the scale. We didn’t want our journalism to be objective and detached, but wanted to get involved and engage with the citizens of journalism – the people who are affected by the municipality’s policies. Another important objective for us was to provide the citizens of Grahamstown with a platform for debate and discussion about their environmental concerns. We also wanted to make sure that some of this information made its way to the legislators who can actually make changes based on what they find out. What was essential for us was that our journalism was not simply created in a vacuum but that it would have real meaning and facilitate change.

We think that our objectives were realistic and credible. We brainstormed various ideas but I think that we stayed practical and almost all of our original plans came through somehow, even if we had to adapt them slightly. We think that our ideas were very well thought and, on the whole, we were very pleased with how they turned out.

Innovation and Journalistic approaches

Our topic, which deals with governance and policies, is one which almost lends itself to investigative journalism and playing the ‘watchdog role’ – a role which is very important. We did, however, want to be a bit more creative with our media outputs and explore the possibilities of journalism outside of traditional, mainstream approaches.

Our media outputs are, then, alternative in some ways. Most notably, we tried to incorporate aspects of public journalism by creating a platform through which the people of Grahamstown could create the journalism for us by expressing their environmental concerns and problems without us dictating the angle of the ‘story’. Our audio slides also encouraged people to tell their own stories. We also used development journalism approaches through our educational campaigns and also with the creation of a Public Service Announcement (PSA) on illegal dumping which we offered to the municipality for education purposes. Perhaps we could have gone further in this respect but we did face some constraints in terms of our topic, which was quite well suited to more traditional approaches to journalism.

We do think that our media outputs were approached with our objectives and group vision in mind, which is why they have been so effective thus far. The fact that we collaborated so closely as a group has given our media outputs a very clear coherence even if different media specializations employed different kinds of approaches to journalism.

Achieving objectives

It is perhaps still too soon to tell just how effective our media campaign really was but we do think that we managed to create media achieving our objectives. Our graffiti banner certainly got people talking and we had a very good response to it, as people became very roused by it and gave us their concerns about the municipality. Most importantly, we got our media out of the AMM and spread the word as our stories were published in local newspapers and the municipality agreed to use our illegal dumping PSA for their own educational purposes and we got our own educational posters out and around Grahamstown. We will also be having our own exhibition of our work in the Egazini Community centre and hope that this will be successful in raising some awareness and getting people talking. We have also utilized our blog quite effectively so hopefully in time this will also be able to add to our campaign. It is perhaps fair to say, however, that our work will have an effect but that it will take time for this to happen in some cases.

Target audiences

As a larger group, our main target audience was all the citizens of Grahamstown as policy is something that affects all people. However we used our different mediums of television, radio, photography, and writing and design to reach different members of the community on different levels.

The television productions, which focus on the issue of illegal dumping, take into consideration three audiences within the Grahamstown community, namely; policy makers, victims of illegal dumping and perpetrators of illegal dumping. The news story is aimed in some ways at all three. It portrays the complaints and grievances of residents with the aim of informing those who have the power to influence change of what the needs of the community are. The news piece is targeted at both Xhosa and English speakers due to the presence of subtitles. The public service announcement (PSA) was produced for the municipality to use as part of their campaign to create public awareness about the problems caused by illegal dumping. It is targeted at an older audience, as they are primarily responsible for disposing of their families/businesses waste. As the target audience is an older one, a child is used as the focus of the PSA, to appeal to ones maternal or paternal instincts. Both a Xhosa and English version have been produced, and so the target audience includes both language groups.

With respect to the audio visual slideshows these had similarly broad target audiences – those who are affected by the implementation/non-implementation of the policies, and those who are in charge of the policies. We did, however, focus on those who are worst affected, because these are the same people who don’t have access to the information and who need to know their rights. Both audio-visual slideshows are done in English, which makes it less accessible to those who don’t speak the language, but images do communicate, which is why we used the photographs that we did.

WED however targeted the whole of the Grahamstown community as Makana policies affect individuals at every level. The stories we produced were for OppiPress, and Grahamstown This Week, and thus targeted those specific audiences of both student and community, aiming to spread environmental policy concerns as much as possible. In terms of the banner, we created a bilingual platform for all sectors of the community to voice their concerns in terms of waste, water and electricity. We did this by placing it at Pick ‘n Pay and Checkers, hoping to engage with a large representation in terms of demographics. The language used in the educational posters was very basic English to ensure even those less literate could understand. The graphic appeal of the posters also reinforced this. Thus by having news stories, graphic educational posters and a bilingual banner for the community to give feedback to the municipality, we managed to use different forms and mediums to address environmental concerns, from more traditional types of journalism stories to allowing the community to participate.

The ‘so what’ and ‘audience appeal’ factors

Since our groups topic is one of governance this can very easily be misconstrued as boring and inaccessible. We tried to make governance and policy accessible to all members of the community and make it interesting for them. Each individual story produced by our group has a different but just as important appeal to the Grahamstown community at large. We decided to focus essentially on the issues of water, waste and electricity as these appear the most important environmental issues to Grahamstown residents.

The television students followed illegal dumping which is not a new problem in Grahamstown, but an ongoing one. The research into how other local journalists have covered the problem shows that it has never before been related to LEAP policy. Therefore it takes a fresh look at the problem and provides new information to the community. We believe the story will be of interest to the community as it is quite evident that illegal dumping is a problem in many areas of Grahamstown, which poses health and safety risks for those who reside near these dump sites. As our group’s beat focuses on municipal policies, our news story could have quite easily become very impersonal. However we included individual voices and characters from the community to personalise the issue. The PSA we have produced draws strongly on the audiences emotions and uses simple visuals, music and language so that the viewer is not distracted from the message. We believe the PSA is effective in the way in which it appeals to the viewer and in communicating that illegal dumping is wrong.

In relation to radio and photography both of the audiovisual slideshow’s topics are very relevant to our target audience. They both communicate some of the more extreme problems within the Makana Municipality’s domain – litter and sewage. So many people are living under terrible conditions, unaware that it is their municipality’s duty to do something about it. It is through this that we will empower those in our audience who are affected by the problems. We did not want to promote negativity about Makana, but still felt that the stories needed to be told truthfully, and so we carefully chose the way that the slideshows would develop. For example, our story on the litter problem starts off with scenes of destitution, where landscapes are ruined by rubbish and the sky is grey and slowly transforms into scenes where there are bright colours, smiling children and blue skies. We found it necessary to bring the positive to light too. The slideshow, while being informative, also had a story, which brings in the important human element.

As has been already mentioned it is difficult to make policies appealing to the people. However the WED group managed to construct an investigative news piece on the Albany Water Scheme for the OppiPress in terms of how it will effects students, and thus managed to relate it back to our audience. We also wrote a news piece on the energy saving light bulbs, which the municipality is using to replace normal light bulbs all around Grahamstown. Through this we managed to shed some positive light on the municipality and what they are doing for the environment. Other stories range from an opinion piece about people should take responsibility for the waste problem in Grahamstown and fix it themselves. The banner was a fresh, innovative way for people to voice their concerns and showed a definite need for a public space for the community to voice their grievances. We made it an appealing event, with balloons, colorful leaflets and sweets. The Grahamstown community responded with much enthusiasm, as well as showing that there is much tension between the municipality and themselves. The graphic educational posters worked in terms of making LEAP policies public and presenting to the community what the municipality should be doing, giving them the prerogative to judge on their own terms what they think the municipality is or is not doing. Thus we hoped to facilitate some change, for if our media audiences are aware of policies and know who to talk to in the municipality, then we have helped to bridge the gap between them.

Quality and depth of research

Since this project revolved around policy and the governance there was a great deal of research required to make sure we were aware of all the policies in place, and find out how or if they had been implemented. Our group began by conducting Xhosa and English surveys on a random selection of people to find out how many, if any, people knew about LEAP, and about Makana policies on the environment. The data collected showed that very few ordinary citizens knew that Makana policies on the environment even existed. We followed this with an in-depth investigation into Makana LEAP policies. We found that the Makana Local Environmental Action Plan (LEAP) was a local policy developed in 2005, to ensure more focus on environmental issues from the basis of Agenda 21. Agenda 21 seeks to reflect the needs, resources, and hopes of local community and place these in a global context. LEAP thus serves to address social, economic and environmental issues together and reinforce Makana Integrated Development Planning through municipality and community participation, by providing a vision for action projects, developing these projects and providing an understanding of environmental issues and risks in Makana. Thus by examining how these policies work around the development of action themes and action projects in terms of electricity, waste and water the Makana municipality’s role in the environment can thus be assessed.

After extensive background research and community feedback, we approached the municipality as well as environmental officers and professors in Grahamstown, to obtain more expert advice. The municipality, when available, was very cooperative, but it was difficult to get hold of them. The banner project served as research tool in itself. By allowing the Grahamstown public the space to communicate their environmental concerns, we as journalists could identify areas of dissatisfaction and report on those stories. Overall from the research conducted we identified that the public were not aware of the environmental policies and that they needed a platform to express their concerns. Therefore the educational posters and the banner project served a participatory journalistic approach, allowing the community to take part in our media, having their say. The educational poster provided the public with information to their basic rights whereby the LEAP policies were outlined in a simplistic and understandable way.

Within the particular specialization groups there was also extensive research done. For example the television students started their research into illegal dumping by looking at old Grocott’s Mail, stretching from 2006 up to this month. After gaining an idea on the general problem through these previous reports, we decided to investigate illegal dump sites ourselves to see if the issue is still relevant. We visited several sites and took pictures. After that we got in contact with one particular resident who had been named in one of Grocott’s articles, and conducted an interview with him to find out more. After interviewing him about the illegal dumpsite outside his home, we spoke to several other residents who lived nearby. We spent some time at the dumpsite talking to residents and documenting first-hand observation. Lastly we got hold of one of the people responsible for waste management at Makana Municipality, and interviewed him.We tried to break away from convention when it came to sources. We gave a lot more time to residents’ comments, since usually these are nameless faces on the screen for a few seconds of vox pop.

The audio slide group conducted comprehensive research, and scrutinized the LEAP implementation plans in relation to the eradication of the bucket system in the township, and in relation to the plans to minimize littering and illegal dumping in Grahamstown. We found that the deadline for the complete implementation of these plans were 2004, but that the municipality had not made these deadlines, and that they had once again extended the deadline to 2014. The audio slide photographers and radio students first conducted preliminary interviews with residents in the township, and with spokespeople from the municipality, to give us a broad understanding of the issues, before we narrowed down our focus.

Quality of media outputs

Each media group produced media outputs of a high quality, yet shaped in a manner suitable for an ordinary, grassroots audience, since they are our main target audience. However we also targeted the municipality because it is their role to provide a service to the people. We wanted to conscientise those most affected about their rights to a clean environment and clean water. We also hoped to make media of a high quality so we could use our outputs to educate the municipality about the concerns and comments of the citizens. Doing this we would also be helping the municipality provide a better service. Overall one of our greatest successes has been that each subgroup has created media of a high quality, which all is united and is clearly from the same campaign.

We were very happy with the television and audio slide show outputs that we produced. In terms of quality they conformed to the initial plan of incorporating a development/public approach. However, we did not move to the complete opposite end of the journalistic spectrum – there were many traditional journalism elements that we stuck to, and by doing so we made sure the quality of our productions wasn’t compromised. We experimented with the opportunities the new approach gave us, but also worked to our strengths by keeping some elements of traditional journalism, since this is where our previous experience lay. In doing so the production quality was high. With reference to the television outputs, the news story does work in synergy with the PSA in many ways, since it allows us to reach a different audience, with a slightly different message, about the same thing. The two pieces cover different ground, and reach roughly the same conclusions. This is what we had intended and were satisfied when this was achieved.

Moreover our stories worked through local newspapers to reach those specific audiences and served a more traditional journalistic approach. This combined with the banner allowed the Grahamstown community to respond to both good and bad perspectives of the municipality, allowing them a chance to become more aware of what is occurring at a municipality level and thus giving them the opportunity to approach the municipality on such issues. The banner further improved the quality of our overall media output, allowing the community a chance to produce their own media, channeled through us, and thus a chance to voice their concerns, addressing the municipality. The quality of our media products were diverse in nature whereby we integrated traditional media with more alternative approaches in order to create an interest in our topic, municipal policies.

Appropriate journalistic platforms

One of our biggest objectives was being able to create a platform whereby the work we produced could reach the public. This we feel was ultimately achieved as through each of our mediums we have been able to reach and involve different sectors of the Grahamstown community. In order to do this we have chosen to exhibit all our work at an exhibition in the Egazeni Outreach Project building in Extension 6 of the location. We feel that, by bringing the exhibition to the residents of Grahamstown who are worst affected by the shortcomings of the Makana municipality, we can spread a message of hope, and show residents that there are measures they can take themselves to combat environmental problems.

The people portrayed, and voices sampled, in the audio slides and television outputs will be of a familiar nature to residents of the location, making the media easy for such residents to relate to, and enabling them to realize that they, like those portrayed in the slides, can make a difference, or at least remain positive. The slides combine strong visuals and interesting dialogue, ensuring that they will engage and interest viewers. The television outputs provided a very visual platform which covered a different environmental story within LEAP. Further, by inspiring, motivating and encouraging residents, while critically analyzing Makana legislation and its implementation, our objectives of educating and stimulating residents to make a difference environmentally are being fulfilled.

The news stories also worked well, addressing both students and the community who engage with newspapers. Even more so the banner campaign had a good response, sparking interest and allowing the community to become more familiar with municipality policies as they were represented in a public space. Having the banner in Checkers and in Pick ‘n Pay allowed Grahamstown residents from different parts of the town to take part. The banner was sponsored by a local printing company called ‘Ad-Venture’, whereby a professional printed banner emphasised the professionalism of our campaign. The banner will also be placed in the shop afterwards so that even more residents can see what was said. The high quality of this media output encouraged citizens to contribute their concerns as the printed photo’s combined with text and graphics created a visually appealing space.

Creativity, enthusiasm and effort

The creativity, enthusiasm and effort of the entire group was evident from the start. We began this project with constant debating amongst each other, as well as starting to do survey research within the first week. We were immediately eager to find out what the citizens of Grahamstown knew about LEAP and Makana’s environmental policies, so we could see where our objectives lied. We were interested in covering stories that impacted the public in their day to day lives, as well as inform and educate people of the policies in place. Thus, our enthusiasm to produce as good a product as we possibly could was significant in our knowledge that by exposing people’s problems and their solutions for them, we could make a difference, however small it may be. We also realised that by absorbing ourselves in alternative forms of media in which we had never partaken would be beneficial to our academic learning, enriching our practical experience and journalistic skills.

We feel we have gone beyond the bare minimum. As will be explained below, we worked very closely, helping each other and facilitating each medium in a productive way. The overall success of our campaign stems from the fact that each group member was actively involved in each area, whereby we were able to reach consensus and produce media outputs which are united with the group’s identity, objectives and visions.

Group political economy and internal dynamics

Our group as a whole was unique. We worked exceptionally well as a team, and all members of the group were willing to help out with other specializations. For example our entire team was present for the banner campaign, and this event was photographed and documented by the television students. Our entire group will also be present at the Egazeni Exhibition. The different enthusiasm and interest levels of the group played out beneficially, since the right amount of work got done in the right amount of time by different people - enough that each person was happy with their own involvement, without having to ask for more assistance from the other members. However it is still important to discuss the dynamics within the smaller specialization groups.

I would say our TV group worked very independently from other influences. True, our initial story lead was found in Grocotts Mail but their influence was little to none. We did our own investigation. It was an initial idea of ours to hand over our PSA to Makana once we had made it, since we found that LEAP contains public awareness policies that the municipality are trying to follow, involving videos. Despite this, there was never a sense of towing the official line. The PSA was made totally independently, and then offered to the municipality afterwards as a possible resource for them, if they wanted it. The TV subgroup consisted of three people, which made the process democratic and productive. There were editing ‘shifts’, and two of us at every shoot, meaning combinations of who did what changed each time and balanced out the workload. Once all footage was in, the three of us worked as a team, each giving input for the final story script-one we were all happy with.

Within our audio slide group there was a positive political economy whereby all group members were continuously willing to help other sub-groups in order to ensure the best possible outcomes. As a group consisting of photojournalism and radio students we were independent from editorial influences such as commercial and governmental. By being independent of the government we were able to focus on the actual people of Grahamstown and concentrate on their issues and problems concerning the municipality in order to promote development journalism. We acted as a platform for the people of Grahamstown to be given a chance to voice their opinions and feelings concerning the environmental policies set out by the municipality. Our stories were developed through brainstorming ideas regarding Makana municipality and looking at angles that could allow for photographic opportunities and sound. Within our group we were allowed to choose which story we wanted to work on and what interested us personally. The photographic stories and audio slides were edited in conjunction with each other in order to ensure there was a correlation between the sound and images. This way we were able to receive positive criticism in order to do the final adjustments to the audio slide. The internal dynamics of our group were particularly good and everyone seemed to get along and work well together.

The WED group however took a standard neutral position, aiming towards being more of a facilitator between municipality and community. We wanted to show the community what government should be doing in order to allow them the chance to respond on their own terms to those policies and whether or not implementation is occurring. As we are not environmental experts, we had to rely on expert opinions and research to facilitate our understandings of what is going on. Without community response, we would also have no stories, ideas or media as they are the ones who are affected by policy, implementation, or lack there of. As a subgroup we worked very closely, corresponding with the larger multimedia group on a regular basis, putting in equal effort, enthusiasm and work. The writers, as mentioned before, collaborated in terms of stories to generate the best quality stories that we are capable of as a team. The designers also shared projects and were able to assist one another when needed. Our close teamwork only served to have a positive effect on our media outputs, helping and aiding each other constantly. As a subgroup we have agreed to share the marks we get, as we fell we worked exceptionally well as a group.

In conclusion our group “Take a Leap” feels that we met many of the objectives we set out in the beginning. We have created a platform for the public to involve themselves in environmental issues that affect them. We have also educated people and made them aware as to what their environmental rights are, and what Makana municipality is doing to make these a reality. Further than this we were able to show both the positive and negative sides to what Makana is doing, and in return we hoped to have created an atmosphere of change. Some of our many successes as a group is that our news stories are going to be printed in local newspapers and read by citizens around the town. Our banner was also an immense success, as it brought together many people within the community and got people debating amongst each other how they felt about these issues.

Another great success of ours was the Public Service Announcement made by the television students. The municipality has agreed to use this PSA as a tool for educating school children about illegal dumping. Overall our work produced was a group effort and is of the highest quality. We are all really proud of the results and cannot wait to take all our productions into the public sphere at our Egazeni Exhibition.

Fluid plans, but are they water tight?

by Tammy Sutherns

A new R1 billion scheme to develop water supplies in Grahamstown, which is set to begin construction soon, has sparked a heated debate amongst environmental officials in the area. The Makana Municipality Albany Regional Water Supply Scheme could drastically improve water quantity and quality, but experts claim that the scheme could actually do more harm than good.

The scheme, which will be put into place by the private engineering company Bigen Africa, plans to utilize water from the Gariep Dam on the Orange River by forcing it to flow down the Fish River, to the Glen Melville Dam and finally to the Kleinhans processing works, which Grahamstown currently relies on for its water supply.

The new pipelines will provide more and better quality water to Port Alfred, Kenton-on-Sea and Grahamstown. For Grahamstown, it will mean that up to 5000 new RDP houses could potentially be built in the industrial area and a much better water supply will be available for cheaper for underdeveloped areas. However, not everyone in Grahamstown will have the same benefits from the scheme. According to Rhodes University Anthropology professor Mike Whisson, there will be a 55 percent increase in water tariffs for students and a 75 percent increase for residents living in more up market areas. Whisson believes that there will be legal issues making implementing such a drastic price increase difficult.

A feasibility report for the Albany scheme, however, showed that drastic improvements do need to be made to Makana’s current water system. The report suggested that with the rapid rate of population increase in the area, the current Waainek water works will only be able to provide 25 percent of the water demand by 2030. In addition, assessments conducted on Makana’s water as part of the municipality’s Local Environmental Action Plan (LEAP) in 2005 showed that Grahamstown’s fresh water supply can often be high in nutrients and salt, which compromises the quality of the water the public use.

However, while issues with not liking the taste or colour of tap water leads many students to drinking only bottled or spring water, water quantity and quality issues affect other parts of Grahamstown at a level more worthy of complaint. The water assessments showed that only 22 percent of people in Grahamstown actually have running water inside their houses and even then of an extremely low quality.

While the Albany scheme sounds like a good idea in theory, experts are concerned that the municipality has not properly thought through issues like finance and environmental impact. “I get the impression that a high level political decision has been made which has basically brushed aside expert advice,” said part-time Rhodes University environmental officer Nikki Kohly.

Kohly, along with other experts, believes that the municipality has failed to address the lack of infrastructure to implement the scheme and the problems of overusing Eastern Cape rivers.

“The Department of Water and Forestry (DWAF) has been warning Makana Municipality for years,” said Kohly. “There is no more water available to transfer to the Eastern Cape until the yield of the Orange River is augmented by new infrastructure.”

There are also concerns that water from the Gariep Dam is already used for too many other water schemes and that using water from an inland source for coastal towns actually goes against DWAF policies.

Whisson also claims that the water from the Gariep Dam is too saline and that there is evidence to suggest that it might be polluted with a poisonous algae, but the municipality has not made any effort to address these two problems.

“We should be focusing on the desalination of water in the coastal areas, rather than using inland sources,” said Whisson. “Particularly in view of the projections about the demand for water inland and the prospects of lower rainfall run-off as a result of global warming. The municipality remains vague about their plans but when water rates begin hiking at their estimated rate for students and residents, they will have to start answering questions.”

Municipality officials were unavailable for comment.

Shedding some light on the matter

by Cairen Harry and Jessica Blase

The recent price increases in water and electricity have left even the Oppies with the most well lined pockets groaning at the arrival of the monthly bills. But in these times of darkness, the Makana Municipality has provided a glimmer of light.

Makana Municipality’s Energy Efficient Lighting Programme, which began in September this year, has so far seen over 46 000 light bulbs in houses across Grahamstown being replaced with their new energy saving light bulbs free of charge.

The municipality’s initiative, which is being directed by Eskom, could help Oppies and Grahamstown residents save not only money, but also the environment. “The aim of the project is to relieve the electricity usage load for Grahamstown,” said Makana Municipality Electricity Department technical assistant Xhandi Bokwe. “We are changing the normal incandescent light bulbs in people’s homes to the energy saving Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs). While normal light bulbs will use anything between 60 and 100 watts, CFLs only use between 10 and 15. This means we will be saving huge amounts of energy, which is good for us as well as the environment.”

CFLs are usually extremely expensive to purchase but the municipality has contracted a local company to provide and install them free of charge in all domestic households as well as in Rhodes residences.

Bokwe explained that CFLs use just 20 percent of the energy to provide almost the same amount of light and last more than six times longer than normal light bulbs. “The electricity supply during peak hours is under severe pressure. It’s really important that households use energy as effectively as possible,” he said. The new light bulbs should help to remedy this problem.

Technical officers are currently installing the CFLs around Grahamstown. “A group of guys came to change the light bulbs at my house on African Street last week. They were really friendly and helpful and changed literally every single light bulb in the house. It wasn’t an inconvenience at all,” said third year student Cara lee Roskilly. “I think it’s a really good plan. Hopefully it will help the environment and bring down our electricity bill a bit!”

If you’re not prepared to wait for the municipality to come to you, there is a temporary exchange point where you can swap your old light bulbs for CFLs at Tqulai Hall in Joza. The lamp rollout is expected to be completed by November 30 this year.

Saving the environment, and those pennies, is just a few light bulbs away.

Final stretch...

I am very pleased to say that our group “Take A Leap” is doing very well. We have all been busy with stories within our smaller groups but have been able to come towards a common output: Informing the people of Grahamstown on what the Municipality is doing for our environment, as well as what still needs to be done. This insert aims to update followers on the progress that the WED group has experienced over the past week, and what our plans are for the weeks to come.

For the writers this past week has been a nightmare in trying to get stories together. We organized for two of our stories to be published in the Environmental section of the Oppi Press. Therefore the deadline was on Wednesday and it has been a great stress to get them in by then. But we have succeeded. Both stories will be outlined in greater detail by the other writers, but I will just give you an idea as to what they entail. Our first story is about the Department of Electricity and their energy efficient light bulb project. This project was initiated in September and aims to offer the people of Grahamstown free energy saving lamps. This is not only good for the pockets of local residents but also for the environment. We visited students at their digs where the municipality had recently visited and installed these light bulbs. We also had an extensive interview with the technical assistant at the Department of Electricity, who told us that the project has been a great success. Our other story follows the Albany water project. We learnt that if this project is to be accepted by the municipality then water in Grahamstown could increase by 55%. We did vox pops and side bars for this story, in order to find out how this increase would affect students.

As a writer getting to the bottom of a story is essential. But this project has made me realise how hard it can be to speak to people who do not want to be spoken to. It has taken a great deal of hard work and many relationships have been formed in order to get the interviews that we did. I feel that the municipality constantly has people and journalists criticizing them, and therefore they are afraid to make comments. With much hard work we were able to get the information we needed and in the process we have learnt to understand both sides to the story.

Another project in the pipe line is our educational LEAP poster. This poster will inform the member of Grahamstown of their constitutional right to a clean environment. We have been collecting information from many municipality sources on information surrounding the promises made by LEAP. On the poster, we have highlighted the essential things people need to know about their environment in particular water, waste and electricity. We have also put contact numbers that people in distress can use to seek help, as well as check lists for saving electricity and telling people where to dump their waste legally.

Besides from the writing side there is still the exciting venture of the design student’s banner. This banner will allow the public to write their concerns about Grahamtowns environment and voice their opinion on what the municipality is doing. This will be going up tomorrow at Checkers and Pick ‘n Pay from 1-2pm, and later at 5-6pm. We have organized for the event to be covered by our television students in the form of a documentary of all we have done. At this event we will also be handing out flyers, which were provided to us by the Department of Electricity. We have agreed to hand out these “save energy” flyers as they correlate with our aims and our campaign to inform and facilitate change within Grahamstown. The event should be exciting as all members will be present sporting our campaigns colours of green, orange and black. We hope to create some hype around these environmental concerns and get people talking.

Our last project which involves all members of the group is our Exhibition. This is taking place next Monday in Ext 6 of Joza Township. At this event we will finally be able to show the public what we have done and raise awareness as to what the municipality is doing and whether the policies are being implemented. The design students have created flyers for the event which we will also hand out at the banner signing tomorrow. We hope to create awareness as well as give people the chance to speak out about their problems.

Overall our project is going very well. “Take a Leap” has been an exciting and stressful adventure. But it is not over yet, in our last week we still have a large part of the public to inform, and a great deal of change to make.

Strictly Come Dumping

The answer is no… I don’t watch Strictly Come Dancing, and this blog post has absolutely nothing to do with ‘celebrities’ wearing oh-so-80’s sequins and galloping around on stage. In some ways, I wish it did, because then we wouldn’t have spent a pleasant morning snooping around illegal dump sites in Grahamstown.

According to the LEAP (local environment action plan) implementation plan for waste management, one of the goals set for the municipality almost 3 years ago was the elimination of illegal dumping in the district. A goal which has quite evidently not been achieved.

The first of the two sites we investigated was at an abandoned rubbish skip (a popular hangout for local livestock).



Amongst the various articles of household items and garden refuse, was partially incinerated medical waste. Other than a few bandages, empty pill blister packs and some cough syrup bottles, we didn’t find anything particularly dangerous. However, this waste has not been disposed of according to protocol which has to be followed by clinics and hospitals.



The other dump site was next to a primary school, a worrying factor in itself. Appropriately, this defaced sign serves as a welcome mat for would-be dumpers.



My first thought when walking through the dump was “free digs furniture!”. What used to be a washing machine, pieces of a toilet and a number of wooden planks and shelves, sporting vicious nails were scattered amongst empty alcohol bottles and shards of glass. Not the ideal playground for little kids.



Now that we’ve ascertained that illegal dumping is indeed a problem in Grahamstown, we aim to investigate why this is so and what has been done to address the issue. Watch this space for our completed television news story, as well as a public service announcement aimed at creating awareness about illegal dumping.

LEAPing into Design

By Nicola Brand and Lauren Macnab

As designers for the “Take a LEAP” team, we have positioned ourselves as instruments through which communicating Makana’s environmental issues and concerns takes on a visually appealing and exciting stance. We are faced with the task of filtering the somewhat tedious and monotonous policies, problems and opinions of the Makana municipality and community through design-based imperatives in order to produce media that is not only appealing to the target audience, but also widely understandable and accessible.

However, given both the financial restrictions we face and the nature of the content that we aim to communicate through our design, ‘traditional’ design ventures – such as magazines and newspapers – are not the primary solution to the efficient production, distribution and communication of the content. With financial issues, the content and the target audience being determining factors on the area of design that we have adopted for this project, we have veered more toward designing media that is cost effective yet still effective. We aim to produce media productions which are widely understandable, accessible, and distribution-efficient.

In working as a part of the WEPD team for “Take a LEAP”, we have agreed with the writers on appropriate content for design media. With the WEPD team following stories on the Goat Village and Makana’s LEAP (Local Environment Action Plan), we as the designers have decided to use the practice of design to make these stories more interesting, more visual and more understandable, while adopting non-bias, neutral view toward the municipality and the community. In other words, in implementing sections of these stories into our design, we are neutralizing content that could be taken as being bias or subjective. For example, the writing story covering the issues on LEAP exposes the flaws of Makana municipality in their inability to properly and effectively implement their environmental policies, whereas the design side of the story turns the issues into that of education.

With the LEAP story, we are aiming to design an educational pamphlet that aspires to educate the public (our target audience) about LEAP. This pamphlet will adopt the theme (identity, colours and intentions) of our group and visually communicate the content derived from LEAP, with the intention on educating the public on a very important part of their municipality’s policy that there most likely are oblivious to. This pamphlet will be simple, yet effective and appropriately communicative in its simplicity. In its visual communication it will include diagrams, tables, cartoons, graphs and other visual elements that make understanding LEAP more simple and exciting. This pamphlet will be produced and distributed with the intention of accompanying the story based on LEAP in Makana. It will add volume and colour to the LEAP story and perhaps another dimension or understanding to the issues brought forward and discussed in the story. We are intending to mass-print the pamphlet on normal printing paper in order to widely and easily distribute it to the community – on campus, in the suburbs, in town and in the township.

Another design project that we have chosen to take on for “Take a LEAP” WEPD team in the production of a movable banner – a visual representation of the opinions of the community regarding water, electricity and waster removal in Makana. This banner will be a large material banner that is appropriate for people to clearly write down their opinions on any of the above specified areas. Multi-coloured permanent markers will be used as the writing tools, where citizens of Makana will be granted the opportunity to write, draw or symbolize in any way possible their thoughts and opinions. This allows for the inclusion of the illiterate and uneducated in the project, as their opinions are as important to us as the literate and educated.

This banner will be moved and positioned in different locations in Grahamstown – Pick ‘n Pay, Checkers, Shoprite and on the Rhodes University campus – in order to provide a platform for the variety of voices that constitute the Grahamstown community. We, as the designers, are hoping to take this design idea further once the above mentioned initial stage has been completed. We are looking into the possibilities of using the actual banner itself, in a design sense, to further communicate and substantiate the content of our project as a whole.

The third design venture is related to the Goat Village story where we are intending to design a brochure or flyer to promote the Goat Village and make the public aware of it. We see this as a form of social marketing (not propaganda) where we are – in line with the goals of “Take a LEAP” – aiming to the make the public aware of a local project that is beneficial to the society and brings a positive aspect into the Makana community. Information around the Goat Village is still being gathered and filtered, therefore, directed and focused design decisions regarding this story can only be properly initiated once the content has been appropriately gathered to insure consistency and relevance across “Take a LEAP” media.

As designers we have taken on the task of creating a united identity for “Take a LEAP” – including television media, photo-slide media and WEPD media. “Take a LEAP” was formed out of the groups goal of urging the community (through our media) to get to know the municipality (a neutral view to both the community and the municipality). We formed this united view in order to ensure consistency and relevance throughout the media. With this in mind, we designers will design a group logo to accompany our goal and slogan – “Take a LEAP, get to know your municipality”. This logo will symbolize our position as environmental journalists who represent both sides of the story. Along with this, we have thematic colours for our media, especially that of design. These are green (environmental), orange (bright, colourful and contrasting to green), black and white.

Compromising our Investigative Approach

Bernard DeVoto said, “My job is write about anything in life that may interest me, but it also to arrive at judgments under my own steam. With some judgments that is the end of the line; express them and you have nothing more to do. But there are also judgments that require you to commit yourself, to stick your neck out. Expressing them in print obliges you to go on to advocacy. They get home to people’s beliefs and feelings about important things, and that makes them inflammable.” (Frome, 1998: 70).

What has become clear in studying the environment is that it is not merely an aspect that affects peoples’ lives, it concerns the way people live and experience the world around them, effecting their health, well-being, economy and general situations. Following the 1992 Rio de Janeiro summit and South Africa’s commitment to Agenda 21, it is crucial as a mediator between government and community, to ensure that sustainable development policies are being taken serious at a local government level and that implementation is occurring, which can thus serve as a framework for broader national policies.

The Makana municipality has adopted the LEAP (2005) policy, which provides a detailed plan for implementation of sustainable development at different levels, including waste, water and electricity, which will serve our main area of focus. Surveys handed out by us to the general public have revealed disappointing feedback in terms of environmental care, where almost none of the public have heard of LEAP policies, can recognize any implementation of such policies in their areas and complain of critical problems such as waste not being collected for at least six months at a time. The LEAP policies, in practice, it seems, have been stagnant for some time.

The municipality needs to start answering to the public. It is clear that the state of the Grahamstown environment is causing an infringement on the basic human rights of its people, for example, LEAP policies clearly note that less than 20% of rural townships have clean, running water and adequate sanitation system, yet public feedback shows little has been done to improve this problem, despite initial observation.

We do not wish to criticize the municipality and suggest that they are doing nothing, thus we have planned to serve an educational role, providing the public with information about LEAP policies and allowing them insight into the intentions of the municipality and how far they have gone to achieve these. We also wish to serve as a platform between municipality and residents, where we can express the judgments of both and leave it to them for debate, contestation and change.

However, while willing to compromise in this way by publicizing municipality’s aims, the difficulty in getting them to answer to us is making it clear how we, as journalists, also need to effect change. Thus in terms of our investigative media production, we are going to have to stick our necks out and commit ourselves to getting hold of the Makana municipality. We need to facilitate a space for people to express how they feel, what they believe in and the important and crucial problems that are occurring environmentally, effecting their everyday lives. The municipality cannot keep avoiding the public and we have an evident role in building the bridge between government and public so that these questions can finally be answered.

Our Focus

“Take a LEAP, get to know your municipality”

Aims:

§ To encourage debate between municipality and Grahamstown community.
§ To provide a platform of engagement for the community and municipality policies.
§ To publicize municipality policies and obtain feedback for the community.
§ To investigate the implementation of policies.

Here is the platform: speak out!

“I think we deserve more”

“I hate it”

“They are not doing their job”

These are just a few of the responses we received when we sent out surveys asking what people thought Makana Municipality was doing for the environment. These surveys were conducted in both English and Xhosa as we aimed to gain the viewpoints of students, local residents and residents within the location. The answers even though different in magnitude were generally the same. There was either a complete lack of knowledge as to what Makana’s environmental plans are or there was outrage at the municipality’s lack of implementation of these plans.

Our aim however is not to simply criticize Makana municipality but rather undertake some investigative reporting to see what is being done and offer the people a form of constructive criticism. Yet after the surveys were completed we realized there is a severe lack of knowledge concerning LEAP, Makana’s environmental action plan. Therefore we also hope to educate the public on the role of the municipality in the environment and showcase what is being done. We hope to engage all citizens of Grahamstown in municipal problems and raise a platform for citizen debate.

We also want to do human interest pieces, hopefully reaching audiences on an emotional level. Even though some of these issues of waste, electricity and waste apply to all large sectors of the community, it is through the story of one individual whose life is harmed or has been made better due to the municipalities projects. We have met with the municipality, in specific Kevin Bates, and he has agreed to act as a source of information. We do not want to simply align ourselves with the municipality, nor do we want to criticize them. As our slogan says we want to get people to know their municipality and make people aware of both the good and bad being done. It is about involving the people in the issues that concern them and creating awareness.

Alongside helping with education pamphlets on LEAP and an investigative look at Makana’s environmental policies, we will be following a story on the goat village. This project appears to be a great source of income for farmers as well as creating eco tourism in the area. I would like to focus on the impact this sort of project can have on an individual life, and I hope I can illustrate what such a project can do to turn one persons life around.

Ultimately we want to make a platform for the community to speak about their environmental concerns, and raise awareness as to what has been done yet at the same time what still can be done.

Making a change

Working closely with the Makana Municipality policies and issues of governance in regard to the environment has proved to be rather arduous. On the one hand, in light of the traditional ideas surrounding the media's attitude towards those in power, we want to play the all-important 'watchdog' role and rigorously investigate the municipality. This approach seems to be even more pertinent due to the fact that, according to a number of surveys carried out by our WEPD group, it does not appear as if any of Makana's environmental policies have been properly implemented. Even worse, almost no one we questioned had even heard of the municipality's Local Environmental Action Plan (LEAP). As journalists, we have a responsibility to find out why the municipality are not carrying out their duties as an institution responsible for the people of Grahamstown, particularly when issues surrounding the environment have become so critical.

This said, however, there are ways in which the media can facilitate change and work as a 'tool for development', something which our group believes is equally important. So while some of our WEPD media production will take an investigate approach, we also want to do something a bit different, something that can help the implementation of LEAP as well as make people aware of the environmental policies that are in place.

So after much brainstorming and many, many meetings we decided to work with the idea of creating a kind of educational pamphlet about LEAP. Obviously we would hope to reach as many people as possible with this pamphlet so it would need to be produced in a way that would speak to both students and local residents living in all areas of Grahamstown - it may be necessary, then, to have pamphlets printed in English and Xhosa. This pamphlet would tell people what they need to know about LEAP; what some of the policies are, how they operate, how they can get involved, who to contact for more information.

One of the biggest problems surrounding the production of media about government policies is that it is fairly easy to fall into the trap of making it boring and simply regurgitating the same kind of jargon and complicated language used in the policies and official statements. Our challenge would be to make these ideas accessible to the proverbial 'man on the street'. Making the pamphlet as visually stimulating as possible, using cartoons, pictures and interesting layout designs, would certainly help here but also careful attention would need to be paid to the language used.

What we are hoping is that this pamphlet will provide a platform for engagement and debate with the environmental policies, particularly in light of the fact that it is an extremely relevant issue, as well as raise awareness about LEAP and what the Municipality can and should be doing. After all, it is about time that a change was made and perhaps we can give the people some empowerment to do that.