Philosophy that guides us
We believe that people are their languages … people are the languages that they speak! People and the languages that they speak are not two separate entities. Rather, people and the languages that they speak is one integrated entity. No language can exist of / on its own independent of people that speak it. Languages do not have bodies, minds and mouths that can create and express them on their own, but depend on those people that speak them to come into existence. People embody the languages they speak…they are the bodies that bring those language into existence. People and the languages they speak exist in a co-creative relationship wherein by speaking a language, speakers create a language that did not exist before they spoke. But by speaking a specific language, by providing bodies and minds that create that language and mouths that express it, language in turn creates a community of people that embody it by speaking it – its speakers who are also its owners. We, together with all the other speakers of Sesotho sa Leboa / Sepedi, are the owners of this language. Our language is a precious heritage bequeathed to us by our ancestors so that we must, without failure, pass it to our children and grandchildren. Because we are our languages, if our language is barbaric, then it cannot be the language per se that is barbaric but us, you and me, as speakers who are barbaric. If our language is backward, then it cannot be the language per se that is backward but us as speakers are the ones that are backward. Our language does not have capacity to stand up, create new terminology and promote itself – it is us who must take responsibility for the health of our language. Through this newspaper we want to make a humble contribution to the growth, development and promotion of our language in the knowledge that, in developing and promoting our language, it is not the language per se but ourselves as a people and speakers that we are developing and promoting. By breathing life into and uplifting our language, we know that it is not our language but ourselves that we are breathing life into and uplifting because we are our language.
Vision
Our vision is to create a society of truly proud African people who express that pride through their indigenous language of Sesotho sa Leboa (Northern Sotho) / Sepedi.
Mission
Our mission is to provide information, education and entertainment in a language that our target readers use and understand the best, their mother tongue. To achieve this, we produce a weekly newspaper in the indigenous language of Sesotho sa Leboa / Sepedi in order to give voice to this indigenous African language that currently enjoys no such expression in this manner.
The Newspaper
Seipone newspaper is published by Balaodi Publishers cc, a 100% black-owned and managed enterprise. The first issue of Seipone saw the light of the day on 13 August 2002 when the paper was launched as a trilingual newspaper publishing in Sesotho sa Leboa / Sepedi, Xitsonga and Tshivenda. In 2007, the paper dropped Xitsonga and Tshivenda and only remained with Sesotho sa Leboa / Sepedi as the only publishing language. The Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) provided seeding funding as part of a long-term plan to establish newspapers in African languages. In addition, PanSALB provided support for the paper through sponsorship of marketing efforts for the paper. Published as a monthly in the first year of its life, the newspaper became a fortnightly publication on its first birthday in August 2003 to date, and still aims to achieve her goal of being a weekly paper in the future.
How we differ from others
The newspaper is unique in that it publishes in an indigenous language of Sesotho sa Leboa / Sepedi in a country where the media is dominated by the colonial English language. Articles on various issues including education, health, culture, politics, sports, etc are written in that language. Adverts are published in languages that customers choose but the publication always advices clients to publish adverts and advertorials in the language of publication for better understanding and appreciation by readers.
Target market
Our primary target market is school-going youngsters between ages of 7 to 18 years. In the main, African languages have been reduced to merely spoken forms with little or nothing written and published in them besides school texts that are used as teaching and learning materials. In the absence of alternative published materials in our language, we believe that Seipone will serve as a critical teaching and learning resource that will go some way in helping with spelling, reading, comprehension and other language-related matters while simultaneously providing news, information and entertainment.
Logistics & Distribution
Seipone is a fortnightly publication that is published in a tabloid format usually as an 8+ pages product. It features articles that cover politics, business, social issues such as education, health, agriculture as well as cultural matters including sport, music, literature, the environment, etc. Ten thousand (10 000) copies per issue are printed, that is 20 000 copies per month. The newspaper is circulated to the public by dropping copies at schools, supermarkets, restaurants, filling stations, spaza-shops while other copies are distributed by street vendors. The cost of buying a copy of Seipone has always been the same – R1.00. The newspaper is distributed at towns and major centres in four (4) of Limpopo’s five (5) districts. These are Capricorn District (Municipalities – Blouberg, Lepelle-Nkumpi, Molemole, & Polokwane); Sekhukhune District (Municipalities – Elias Motsoaledi, Ephraim Mogale, Fetakgomo-Tubatse and Makhuduthamaga); Waterberg District (Municipalities – Bela Bela, Lephalale, Modimolle-Mookgophong, Mogalakwena) & Mopani District (Municipalities – Letaba & Tzaneen).
Services
The newspaper provides services that include media coverage, profiling of individuals, organizations, products and services in this beautiful and melodious language. The newspaper carries adverts and advertorials of various kinds and sizes written in that language and/or English and Afrikaans. Adverts could be written in any language. The newspaper is published in a tabloid format and ±80% colour.
Website: https://seiponemadireng.co.za or www.seiponemadireng.co.za
In 2018, Seipone initiated this website with a view to reaching and benefitting more speakers of our language and other people that may have interest in this language and its welfare.