WeeklySA_AdminMODE: SA Roadies Association and Soweto businessman team up to jointly roll-out innovative skill programmes at Gauteng schools…
By Ali Mphaki
The SA Roadies Association has partnered with Oldclay Foundation to equip township pupils with digital, technical and production skills for possible careers in communications and culture industries.
It’s a groundbreaking deal, said Oldclay Foundation chairman Keith Nkuna, after the signing of a working partnership with the South African Roadies Association (SARA), which is led by renowned social entrepreneur Freddie Nyathela recently.
In terms of the agreement, SARA will provide technical and production skills to Oldclay’s Potter’s Voice, a digital platform with school-led podcasts that replicate and expand the model nationwide. Potter’s Voice Media House is the storytelling and cultural media, and produces youth-led content, podcast programmes at township schools.
In addition, SARA will also offer learners skills such as rigging, lighting as well as teach them to manage the technology themselves.
Oldclay has adopted several Gauteng public schools and intends to bring podcasts directly into the schools to create a pipeline of young content creators and future leaders. Its mission is to build a network of school branches nationwide, which, as Nkuna posits, aims “to give our young learners a chance not only to consume media but to create it.”
The Potter’s Voice is intended to equip learners with 21st-century media and communication skills and open pathways to possible careers in media journalism and cultural industries. It also intends to build a network of school and media branches.
To this effect, Oldclay Foundation has adopted several Gauteng public schools and intends to bring podcasts directly into the schools to create a pipeline of young content creators.
Nkuna further explains that the youth-driven digital platform will have content tailored to schools with topics such as justice and fatherhood, gender-based violence, cultural erosion, mental health, education, and resilience.
Thought leaders, educators, cultural figures, and everyday heroes will also feature prominently in the podcasts, the aim being to challenge broken systems, highlight solutions, and share transformative stories. Each school, Nkuna further explains, will produce its own unique content that reflects learners’ experiences. “It’s more than a podcast. It’s a training ground for tomorrow’s storytellers,” said Nkuna, a renowned businessman and philanthropist.
He said it made perfect business sense for Oldclay to team up with SARA, especially since both organisations were passionate about the skilling and empowerment of young ones.
For his part, Nyathela was equally elated about the partnership with Oldclay, adding that the deal was a “game changer.” He said it would ensure that more and more young ones are exposed to much-needed technical and production skills, so they could be innovators and creators and give meaning to their lives.
Since its inception in 1993, SARA has enabled young skills and capacities in the lighting, sound, staging, power, and rigging through both the SAQA accredited Skills Education and Training Authority (SETA) training courses it has run.
The programme has been the pipeline for new blood to break into professional ranks in the technical and production industry in South Africa and beyond.
SARA has also forged long-term international relationships, resulting in scores of South African youth traveling overseas to gain valuable practical skills development and experience in countries such as the UK, Norway, Denmark, USA, Germany. This approach has allowed SARA to develop within its own ranks, the capacity to train, moderate, and assess technical and production skills across all the sectors.
“This is the same kind of approach that we want to follow in our partnership with Oldclay,” says Nyathela, adding that their collaboration with Oldclay fit like hand to glove to their vision.
“With our collaboration with Oldclay, the sky can only be the limit,” said Nyathela.
Nkuna said he was impressed at what he saw when he visited SARA’s offices in downtown Johannesburg, describing the non-profit organisation’s work as a “shining” example of black excellence. There, he witnessed learners exhibiting various tech skills like operating audio-visual, led screens, lighting control and programming, sound and backline techniques, cable soldering.
Nyathela stressed the importance of raising awareness among young people about myriad opportunities in the technical production area, a field which relatively remains unknown.
“Bridging this knowledge gap and showcasing the vast opportunities in the field is crucial to inspiring the next generation,” said Nyathela.
Nyathela said the collaboration will ensure more and more young people are exposed to the much-sought technical and production skills, so they could be innovators and creators and give meaning to their lives.
Some of the programmes to be introduced by SARA will be to provide the youth with sound technical, lighting, audiovisual and video skills, monitor engineering and rigging.
