Listen to others

MUCH has been said of the views expressed by Tumi Morake on radio. While we may not normally weigh in on another media’s issues, we offer our support to the presenters and Jacaranda FM.

Morake’s on-air analogy of a bully and a bicycle to illustrate the lingering impact of apartheid on blacks was seen by some whites as racist. As a result, some listeners and an advertiser have chosen to boycott the station, while Morake’s co-presenter, Martin Bester, who has steadfastly supported her, has had an off-air appearance cancelled by an anxious organiser.

The analogy was not intended to insult any group and did not constitute hate speech, said station manager Kevin Fine, but nonetheless, trade union Solidarity is preparing a report for the Human Rights Commission.

Bester, in an article at the weekend, compared the reaction to a game of broken telephone – where in the retelling of a story, the message whispered from one person to the next is completely lost.

And, in his analysis, commentator Andries Bezuidenhout raised the crucial question of how we can create a nation from such diversity in the absence of shared spaces where South Africans can have conversations and agree, or at least agree to differ, about who we are and where we are going.

We believe that creating a platform for the expression of different viewpoints is an important part of the media’s role in society. What Jacaranda FM has done by bringing Morake on board is what many other media organisations are doing to open up the possibility of such conversations.

We should listen to what others have to say and try to understand their meaning. If we are so thin-skinned as to quash debate, we will lose the one forum that offers the opportunity of building understanding.