Daily Sun the leading newspaper with circulation

By: Lindokuhle Mnisi
@LindokuhleMnisi



One of the front pages of Daily Sun newspaper.



Daily Sun is the biggest daily newspaper in this country, South Africa. It is the most widely circulated South African newspapers. With between 376,743 and 400,000 sales in Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, and Northwest provinces, the national expansion of the paper to KwaZulu-Natal, Free State and the Eastern Cape will add to the existing circulation. Daily Sun targets readers in and around the major urban centres of South Africa. These readers are predominantly black, English-literate with a high school or greater education, and working-class earners - the economic core of South Africa.

While a lot of people seem to have negative perspectives about this daily newspaper it still remain to be, among, the top selling and circulating newspaper. It covers a wide range of issues like any other newspaper but the manner in which the present their stories is unique. Their stories vary from politics, lifestyle to sports. And it then dwell much on the African stories that people choose to rather call it “superstitions”.

The target market of Daily Sun is a single mother from the township who works as a domestic worker, people is LSM four or less even those unemployed. They talk to the people direct by writing about those things that other newspapers don’t want to cover. Daily Sun has given ordinary people something to keep them entertained. Their usage of language is user-friendly, they write simple English. Anybody can read it; it is something that very body talks about on the taxis.

One of the people whom I ask about the Daily Sun spoke about what he regards as “superstition” that the newspaper covers. He says even though he doesn’t believe in them but he acknowledges the fact that they exist especially in Africa. “Daily Sun is a newspaper that reports on human stories. News are stories that are met with a “whoa” reaction from audience. People have fantasies and any media house that entertains such receives people’s interests. The problem is that some of us are not fond with superstitious beliefs even though we know they exist. The nihilism approach, that is (sic)”

This newspaper has its unique way of writing headlines for their front page stories and other stories. They write in an attractive and sensational manner. Sometimes they over exaggerate on the headlines, before you read the story you already have a certain impression. In most cases the story (content) is not what the headline says.  I saw a headline that say “SON MARRIES HIS MUM” and when read the article it was talking about the traditional beliefs in the family. If the mother of the children was never married to the husband before he died, one of her sons have to marry her (ritually) so that the ancestors can accept her in the family. What is more hooking about the story is that the picture they used is the son and his mother are dressed in a manner that anybody can see that they are getting married (Suit for the son and a wedding white dress for the mother).

Among the people I interviewed, a lot of them have complained about the paper’s usage of pictures. Some say some of those pictures are not clear “it’s like they were taken with a cell phone” and some “scary to children.” While some suspects that most of the stories written on the newspaper are created by the journalists just to feel up the paper, “This is a 32 pages daily newspaper and it is always in stores selling. Some local newspapers are weekly but but only 4-8pages, where do Daily Sun get all these stories every day? Some are not factual.”

In Mpumalanga there are many people who buy and read the Daily Sun on a daily basis. This is because they are mostly exposed to it than any other newspapers. The province is big and consists of many rural villages where the circulation of other newspapers doesn’t meet the masses. And some of the newspapers are expensive to the people and Daily Sun is the cheapest of them all. They prefer buying and reading it to get stories about the country. Some people don’t even have the knowledge capacity of analysing the content because they can’t even do comparison with anything else, the Mpumalanga News is cheaper than daily Sun but it is only sold in Mbombela and the nearby areas. They just read what they can afford to buy.

In Limpopo most people read the Daily Sun because of the nature of African life they are exposed to. Limpopo is stereotyped as a province which is full of witchcraft and most of the reports based on that are about people from Limpopo. People want to read which Sangoma was burnt over the weekend and which Tokoloshe raped which granny last night. That’s the reality of the matter. While some people might think such things do not exist, there are people who are vocal about their experiences and elders know. That is why most people who buy the Daily Sun in rural areas are older people. Those who are sports fanatics also buy the newspaper for only the back pages, to read which teams were playing and how it is analysed.

KwaZulu-Natal is a province that still has people who are active in terms of culture and traditions. These are Zulus who respects their ancestors and still comply with the laws. They buy the newspaper to get more insight on what is happening around the world. They are again politically motivated so they want to read more about what is going on in terms of politics. The local newspapers like Isolezwe don’t reach the stories that happen in other provinces, so the Daily Sun as a national newspaper bring all the reports on their fingertips.

In Gauteng Daily Sun is not selling like in the other provinces. The reason is that most of the national newspapers are published in Gauteng and circulation starts there. There are other Tabloid newspapers like Sowetan, The Citizen, The Times and the latest The Star Africa Edition. So people in the Gauteng province are more modernised and analyse things differently. People prefer buying these other newspapers because they appeal to them. They speak about issues that affect them directly. Another significant point is that the people in Gauteng afford the expensive newspapers that the rural people do not. Elders like grand fathers and grand mothers still continue to buy Daily Sun because of being attached to it.

Why is South Africa still called South Africa?

By: Lindokuhle Mnisi
@LindokuhleMnisi

 I was listening to SABC’s SAFM this morning (Morning Show with Siki Mgabadeli) and a caller phoned in and asked this question “Why is this country still called South Africa?” I started thinking and many questions started roaming in my mind. The name South Africa is, according to me, a colonial name that colonialists gave to this country. Zimbabwe was once called Rhodesia (1965-1979) (by British colonialists) and it changed to be the Republic of Zimbabwe in 1980 after the defeat of the white minority government.

Nyasaland was colonized by migrating tribes of Bantu around the 10th century. In 1891 the area was colonized again, this time by the British. In 1964, Nyasaland gained independence and was renamed Malawi.

Northern Rhodesia was colonized during the Bantu expansion of the thirteenth century. After visits by European explorers in the eighteenth century, Zambia became the British colony of Northern Rhodesia towards the end of the nineteenth century. For most of the colonial period, the country was governed by an administration appointed from London with the advice of the British South Africa Company. Today Northern Rhodesia is called Zambia

The list of the countries that were colonized goes on and on. South Africa gained democracy (independence) in 1994 when the ANC took power, defeating the National Party that was predominantly white minority government (apartheid). The first black and democratically elected president was Dr Nelson Mandela. South Africa never changed their colonial name until today. The name “Mzansi” is dominating on the streets but nobody is thinking of implementing it as country’s name.

South Africa is a multi-racial and multi-cultural state but the issues of prejudice are still dominating. Race is still the issue because of the imbalances of the past. Blacks are accused of being stuck on the past and never want to move on. The ANCYL is fighting for Economic Freedom. According to the ANCYL NEC , the economy of South Africa still belong to the “White monopoly capital” and it must be taken and shared.

But the question is: When is South Africa going to be called with a unique name? “South Africa” is just a description name, describing where the country is situated. When a person asks “Where is Mzansi?” an answer can be ‘in South Africa’. But now if somebody asks, where is South Africa? The answer is “South Africa is in South Africa”. Where is the uniqueness of the country then?

The apartheid system has divided the nation, yes, but as much as I would love to move on, I would love to see the name of this country being changed. Not to cater for only the apartheid victims (blacks) but all the country’s population. A first step has been taken and I congratulate the government for that step, street names change. The street names have been changed in the Tshwane City and there was an outcry which I think was just an excuse to attack the ruling party and its president, Jacob Zuma. This nation has to be unique, not to kill the history but to move away from history that brings tears on our eyes.

People who are reluctant to change will always tell you about budget and economy when something has to be done. When you have to buy a washing powder, your kids complain that “you should have bought a bunch of apples”, they forget that there is a budget for everything and they will need the soap on weekends for their clothes. The governing party must take the South African name change to parliament to be discussed, I think it’s about time.

Police take part on Mandela Day

By: Lindokuhle Mnisi
@LindokuhleMnisi

Police in their casuals cleaning at the Mabopane Police

station as part of their 67minutes work for Mandela Day.

Mabopane police officers took part cleaning their station as part of the 67minutes work for Mandela Day.

Police have put on their casual clothes to clean the inside and outside places within the station. They divided into small group to speed up the process and do as much as possible. Some were cleaning the cells, scrubbing the walls in the inside while others were cutting grass, trimming trees and picking up the dirt in and around the police yard.

This job is normally done by the hired domestic and general workers but on this day police have taken upon themselves to ensure the cleanliness of their work place.

“Today’s theme is Mandela and we are celebrating it by cleaning the police station in this 67minutes. We are cleaning the inside and outside since well the station is dirty, so that the community outside can see by example that this people clean their own place than going out living their own premises dirty,” says Dikatso Thebe, Lieutenant Collonel of the Mabopane Police Station.

In this initiative they got support from the area’s CPF patrollers who have also came to offer their hands. “Our link with the police is that we are all working on fighting against crime. So we saw it important to be together on this project of cleaning the police station. So we (CPF) are also part of the community. To show the community that we’re together with the police service we decided to be part of the cleaning project today,” says Nthabiseng Lesenga, CPF coordinator.

Prison warders renovate a Hospice for Mandela Day's 67minutes

By: Lindokuhle Mnisi
@LindokuhleMnisi

The Correctional Services Prison warders from the

Pretoria Central Correctional centre renovating the Tumelo

Home and Hospice on Mandela Day.

The Correctional Services Prison warders from the Pretoria Central Correctional centre spent their 67minutes of Mandela Day renovating the Tumelo Home and Hospice situated at Mabopane Block B.

The warders contributed R10 each to buy the materials they used. Among the things they were doing are repairing window panes, cleaning the whole yard, tree cutting and trimming and also painting the inside. Each of the warders also donated one blanket to the hospice.

“We’ve collected money to buy the materials that we’re a using to clean this place. The Correctional service has done the donations,” says Frans Modise, Spiritual care coordinator from Pretoria Central Correctional centre.

Along with them (Warders) were other organizations that have came to offer themselves as part of their 67minutes work. Among others are Department of Health, Department of Auditor general, Department of North Star, Pick n’ Pay, Spar and others. There were also great donations that came from these companies and organizations. The hospice expressed their excitement about the initiative taken to improve the hospice. “There are donations like food, napkins and window glasses. Some are doing carpentry, building us build-in cardboards, repairing ceilings while others are cooking and cleaning. That’s the load they brought to us to show love,” Lorraine Mabusela, Founder and CEO, Tumelo Home and Hospice.

“I feel emotionally happy about what they have done for us. They came in numbers to express their love for the home,” Mabusela added.

On this day one the grannies in the hospice, Dorothy Mosue, was also turning 94years. She enjoyed her birthday on Mandela Day in the hospice. 

It is through the battle field that we are going to take back the land - Ronald Lamola

BY: LINDOKUHLE MNISI

The African National Congress Youth Leader convened a gathering at the University of SA (UNISA) addressing, among others, the policies they will be representing in the National Policy Conference that will take place in Midrand next week.

The “ANCYL Policy Discussion conference” led by the Youth League’s Deputy President Ronald Lamola touched on the long debated Nationalization of Mines and Expropriation of Land without compensation policies. Lamola echoed the statement he recently made that says force will be used to accumulate the land. “It is through the battle field that we are going to take back the land that was taken forcefully away from us,” he said.

Number of other issues arose including the league’s call of struggle for economic freedom. This time they dwelled much on the differences between the townships and the suburbs. “The majority are lying in the streets of Alexandra and in deep rural areas, not participating nor seeing the economy of the country,” says Lamola

Commenting on one of the South Africa’s slogans that says “SA is a Rainbow Nation state”, Lamola said “South Africans are not united as long as blacks still go to the “mkhukhus” of Alexandra while the whites go to the suburbs”

“United South Africa will start when we start seeing the rainbow nation in the packed trains like Metro rail and Shosholoza mail”

Another attack was posed indirectly to President Jacob Zuma accusing him of “upgrading one village to look like Hollywood”. “”Leadership must lead the nation not the village they come from of the tribe they fall under. We are inspired by former president Thabo Mbeki and Nelson Mandela, they did not serve their own villages but they strived for the nation,” said Lamola.

The nation and its economy belong to the young generation that is the future of the country. The ANCYL is fighting for radical change in the mother body especially after the elective conference in Mangaung late this year. “If you look at leaders in other countries, they are very young and energetic. You never see a sleeping parliamentarian. They even “moer” (beat) each other in debates for socio-economic and political issues. We must fight without fear or favour,” said Lamola

I wish I had an opportunity

By: lindokuhle Mnisi

I wish I had an opportunity to be me
an opportunity to be the best that I was born to be
a lifetime chance that would clear my eyes and let me see
that there was more to life than living in misery
a misery that affected the majority but was caused by the unknown

I wish I had an opportunity to see life in a different view
not the one I was subjected to by the circumstance I was going through
sometimes I feel if I had a clue about life before birth
I wouldn’t decide to come through to live awaiting death

The biggest inconvenience was being born in a village
growing up in a none developed vicinity during my vintage
being raised by a family that was extremely disadvantaged
where I couldn’t acquire the necessities that were relevant for people of my age
the chapter of my life was in a blank page
and I was trapped in darkness like an innocent dove in a cage

A good life could only be seen on a black n’ white Television at the neighborhood house
they were not superior but they had obtained part of the opportunities I wish I had
I don’t believe I was born inferior but life convinced me that I was nothing
the poor education that I was exposed to is the source of my failure
I wish I had an opportunity to be the best even when situations depressed me

I wish I had an opportunity to change the world
I wish I had an opportunity to change the situation that other people are going through