Lesooana Moeti, a content editor and journalist of the Lesotho National Broadcasting Service’s (LNBS) Ultimate Radio, has scooped first position in two categories at the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Media Awards 2024 held in Zimbabwe last Saturday.
The SADC Media Awards competition is held annually in four categories, namely Photo, Print, Television and Radio Journalism.
The SADC Media Awards were established in 1996 to recognise best media work in disseminating information on SADC to support the process of regional cooperation and integration. The first prize winner in each of the four categories receives US$2,500 (M44,675) and the runner-up US$1000 (M17,870).
The awards are open to journalists from 16 SADC Member States, and the winners were announced during the opening ceremony of the 44th SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government in Zimbabwe.
In an interview with theReporter this week, Moeti who has more than 10 years’ experience in journalism, indicated that he came out first in the radio and television categories.
In the radio category, Moeti entered the competition on the topic “Lesotho harnessing of water for economic growth’; while for television his topic was “Lesotho tourism adventure for regional economy.”
“On ‘Lesotho harnessing of water for economic growth’, I focused on construction of various dams in addition to Polihali Dam which was recently launched. This involves the Lesotho Highlands Water Project’s construction of tunnels and dams to divert water from the mountains of Lesotho to South Africa.
“The project also entails harnessing the water transfer of the Senqu/Orange River in Lesotho’s highlands through construction of a series of dams for the mutual benefit of the two countries,” Moeti said.
On ‘Lesotho tourism adventure’ Moeti’s focus was on the ‘Maletsunyane Braai Festival being the most popular event among people in Lesotho and others from SADC countries. The event also aims to advertise the ‘Maletsunyane Waterfalls.
Moeti added that the most interesting part about the competition is that journalists get to choose their own topic demonstrating regional integration; that’s how countries can work hand in hand for economic growth.
His topic last year was about technology, which focused on high performance computing in relation to climate change.
“What I have learned is that SADC aims is to see its countries growing economically, based on their different economic situations in order to help other countries grow.
“As a result, SADC noticed that media should be at the forefront in reporting such issues,” he observed.
Some of the challenges that Moeti encountered in this competition was the struggle to find sources. However, it took patience and meticulous planning to schedule his work accordingly to complete his work.
Moeti enthused that the win means a lot to his career because in Lesotho journalism does not pay a lot. As a result, opportunities of this kind should be embraced by journalists in both government and the private sector. “We don’t need to be timid; we should gain something outside our work using the talents that we have. To me, it’s a lesson that as journalists we should take the risks and not be lazy. Competition also enables us to be well informed, and it requires thorough and accurate research to disseminate information to the people,” he added.
