The South African teenagers using radio to fight gun crime - in pictures

Every week a group of South African teenagers crowd into a studio to play hip-hop and discuss neighbourhood gun crime for their community radio show, Bigger Than Life, on Alex FM. They are determined to help stem the violence that blights their densely populated township of Alexandra in Johannesburg

Gulshan Khan / AFP / Getty Images

Main image: Members of the Bigger Than Life crew

  • Young broadcaster Jennifer Ngobeni, 16: ‘I can assure you that every single child of Alexandra can be a living testament … every night, from Friday to Sunday, or even sometimes on weekdays, we always hear gunshots – it is like an always thing’
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    Young broadcaster Jennifer Ngobeni, 16: "I can assure you that every single child of Alexandra can be a living testament... every night, from Friday to Sunday, or even sometimes on weekdays, we always hear gunshots - it is like an always thing,"

  • Sithembile Daza, Michelle Selemela, Keabetswe Lebakeng and Gomolemo Seboko during a live broadcast
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    Sithembile Daza, Michelle Selemela, Keabetswe Lebakeng, and Gomolemo Seboko during a live broadcast

  • Sithembile Daza and Michelle Selemela take a selfie in the studio
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    Sithembile Daza and Michelle Selemela take a selfie in the studio

  • Palesa Motaung interviews Michelle Selemela. Michelle’s father, who has been in jail but has turned away from crime, encourages her to get involved in radio: ‘The only thing I could see when I was young was policemen looking for him. He’s a better person now – he helps me structure interviews and ask hard-hitting questions’
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    Palesa Motaung interviews Michelle Selemela. Michelle’s father, who has been in jail but has turned away from crime, encourages her to get involved in radio: “The only thing I could see when I was young was policemen looking for him. He’s a better person now - he helps me structure interviews and ask hard-hitting questions.”

  • A Bigger Than Life planning meeting at Alex FM. The Alexandra township’s community radio station was established in 1994, the year white-minority apartheid rule ended
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    Bigger than Life planning meeting. The township’s community radio station, Alex FM, was established in 1994 - the year when white-minority apartheid rule ended

  • Jennifer Ngobeni recording an interview: ‘Talking about gun violence actually makes people realise that it is not OK for someone to be killed’
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    Jennifer Ngobeni recording an interview: “Us talking about gun violence actually makes people realise that it is not ok for someone to be killed.”

  • Young broadcaster Mpho Molutsi
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    Young broadcaster Mpho Molutsi, 18

  • A training session in progress. Technical trainer Sammy Ramodike says: ‘Every time we speak about gun violence it becomes emotional in the studio. We have one young reporter by the name of Monica, her father was shot dead in gun violence and unfortunately it was her birthday when her father got shot’
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    Training session in progress. Technical trainer Sammy Ramodike says, “Every time we speak about gun violence it becomes emotional in the studio. We have one young reporter by the name of Monica, her father was shot dead in gun violence and unfortunately it was her birthday when her father got shot.'

  • Jennifer Ngobeni researching interviewees. She says criminals can ‘become heroes in the community’
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    Jennifer Ngobeni, 16 researching interviewees. She says criminals can “become heroes in the community”

  • Michelle Selemela, Keabetswe Lebakeng and Gomolemo Seboko at work in the studio
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    Michelle Selemela, Keabetswe Lebakeng and Gomolemo Seboko at work in the studio

  • Jennifer Ngobeni, Michelle Selemela and Keabetswe Lebakeng. Alexandra is just three miles from Johannesburg’s affluent business district but poverty and danger are ever-present. The settlement covers 7 sq km, with many of the bare-brick houses and corrugated iron steel shacks lacking running water and electricity
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    Jennifer Ngobeni, Michelle Selemela and Keabetswe Lebakeng in Alexandra,

  • Michelle Selemela and Jennifer Ngobeni conducting an interview. Countrywide crime statistics show murders have been on the rise since 2012, with an average daily death toll of nearly 57 last year. About a third of those murdered are killed by guns, according to Gun Free South Africa, which supports the Alex FM radio show. South Africa has at least 2m illegal firearms and an estimated 3m legally registered firearms, according to a 2017 survey
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    Michelle Selemela and Jennifer Ngobeni conducting an interview
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