BBC World turns spotlight on SA
BBC World, the international news and information channel, began broadcasting a series of programmes in a specially commissioned South Africa Direct season, starting Thursday, 10 May 2007 and concluding on Sunday 20 May. As part of the season, BBC World’s signature weekly programmes, Click, extratime, fast:track and HARDtalk, are highlighting topics and issues specific to SA.
HARDtalk’s Stephen Sacker will be putting questions to the people who shape the international agenda in southern Africa. Toyko Sexwale, former ANC activist and state governor, now a prominent businessman and potential candidate for the ANC leadership; Charles Nqakula, SA minister of safety and security; Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, Zimbabwean minister of information; Morgan Tsvangirai, leader, Movement for Democratic Change of Zimbabwe; and Hugh Masekela, renowned SA musician, will all be put under pressure in BBC World’s highly popular, hard-hitting, interview programme.
The Click team looks at various wireless projects helping Africa get a strong footing in the digital age. Presenters Spencer Kelly and Richard Taylor visit a township where an entrepreneur is providing local Internet access using ultra-high-speed mobile communications.
They also find out how tin cans are helping solve the problem of limited cabling in remote areas, as well as an ambitious wifi project which aims to cover an entire municipality. Plus, how “freedom toasters” are helping to spread open source software, and a professional wildlife photographer joins the team on safari to share some insights into how we can all take better snaps.
2010
BBC World’s weekly travel programme fast:track, takes a look at how the tourist industry has developed in SA over the past 15 years, as it becomes one of the world’s fastest-growing destinations. The team asks whether the black population has benefited from the post-apartheid surge in international visitors, and as the country prepares to play host to the world cup in 2010, are the fears about crime overstated or an issue which must be addressed before hundreds of thousands of football fans arrive in three years time.
Additionally, in a country famous for its safaris, Peter Nunn investigates whether there are any child-friendly options for those with children under 12 years of age, and former political activist and aid to Nelson Mandela, Christine Fortuin takes the team on a tour of Cape Town, away from the usual tourist haunts.
HARDtalk’s sporting equivalent extratime, meets the two big names in SA sport – Ali Bacher, the famous South African cricketer, and Jomo Sono, the SA football coach for the national team during the 1998 and 2002 World Cups. Both have been long-reigning contributors to their sports and have proved to be of significant importance both on and off the pitch.
