Music to our ears
Hlaudi Motsoeneng, the COO of the SABC, is not afraid to blow his own horn but this week the local music industry was fawning, and understandably so, over his announcement that SABC radio stations (and there are a lot of them folks) will play 90% local content, a cause championed by local jazz luminary Don Laka.
A fair chunk of the public thinks the announcement is a great opportunity for the local music industry to show the market what it’s got. One doubt offered is whether the necessary volume of local music exists to make the policy sustainable in the long run.
Either way, the announcement is a shot in the arm for local music. We at Media Update are 100% behind local music and are excited to see how this plays out.
The samba of Brazilian politics
Brazil, one of the world’s largest emerging economies, has entered a new political phase with its Senate voting this week to initiate an impeachment trial against its sitting (and now suspended) President Dilma Rousseff. The Senate’s vote, after a vote in Brazil’s lower house approved the same measure, saw Rousseff’s deputy Michel Temer sworn in as acting president. Rousseff was suspended over allegations of financial skulduggery prior to her re-election in 2014.
The Senate are the ones to hold her trial and it can last 180 days, at which point it ends with a vote. Right now, with Rousseff’s political allies avoiding her like a bad barrel of moonshine, the odds aren’t looking good for the suspended president.
While her suspension is an admittance of political failure in Brazil, the fact Rousseff is going on trial at all is a nod, however given, to democracy and the rule of law – something other countries could learn from. Including one on the tip of Africa. *Ahem*
Mineworkers look to get what’s owed to them
On Friday, the High Court in Johannesburg handed down a landmark judgment allowing mineworkers to launch a class action suit against the companies that employ them.
The mining companies are accused of failing to protect the health of their employees when they were legally bound to do so, and as a result of their alleged negligence, mine workers contracted the potentially deadly lung diseases TB and silicosis.
Friday’s judgment was a separate matter to the March settlement this year between 4 365 gold miners and mining companies regarding dust-related diseases. What it does mean is mineworkers now have an opportunity to receive justice and re-dress, if the courts rule it so. Interesting times lie ahead for the mining industry.
A special last seen in the 90's
Something a little less serious also caught social media attention this week, and that was Dros telling all who would listen that since it is their 20th birthday, you would receive a burger with sauce and a beverage for R20 every Wednesday from 11 May to 1 June.
R20!? That doesn’t even get you a two litre bottle of milk anymore. Who knew Dros could take us back in time.
Jon Snow mic drop (spoilers loom)
Game of Thrones seems to be a part of Trend Report canon, and this week we saw the return of mopey Jon Snow with slightly shorter hair. After his resurrection, Snow ends up cutting the cord that sees those that stabbed him hanged in typical Game of Thrones fashion.
He then proceeds to resign as Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, and walks away saying, “My watch has ended”. Talk about a mic drop.
We also don’t have anything that can top that so that’s it for this week. See you next week.