The Playdate is a literacy-focused community radio show for foundation-phase Playmates, aged 5 to 9, and the grown-ups who love them! Every Saturday we share iintsomi, stories, poems, games and music in English and isiXhosa.
Most South African children can't yet read for meaning by age 10, and childhood is moving onto screens. We think radio can help bring back the joy of a good story.
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Funo MasindiWriter and creator of Adventures with Sesona
This week on The Reading Mat
Adventures with Sesona · Episode 33
Sesona and the Rainbow Dishes
Our Heritage Day story. Listen for the ch sound — and count how many times you hear it.
ch
26 Sep 2026 · Heritage Day · English
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Every Saturday since 14 February 2026
Your voice. Our story time.
Ilizwi lakho. Ixesha lethu lebali.
From this week's story — listen for ch
Sesona and the Rainbow Dishes
Adventures with Sesona · Ep. 33
— 1 —
One Saturday morning
The show in four chapters
Story circle in RMR waiting room before going to airBirthday crowns in the boothGuest readers on Free Play
Outside Broadcast · 10 October 2026
We took the show to Joza
Over 200 learners from 20 schools and ECDs across Makhanda joined us live on air at Joza Youth Hub.
Behind the scenes
The Playdate team, off mic
Every term, a new group of residents writes, records and produces the show — five production roles, two or three meetings a week, and plenty of field work in between.
A community literacy partnership
The show is run by volunteers: teachers from Makhanda, and Rhodes University students from Education and Journalism, working with the Lebone Centre.
On air with
Umboniso
The Show
Three hours, four segments, every Saturday from 09:00 on RMR 89.7FM — on air since 14 February 2026. Each week follows a theme loosely aligned with the CAPS curriculum.
At the desk, running the show live"Mama Africa" and "Uncle Paps" laughing on air
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Try it · Week 36Playmates, listen and name the instrument.
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Chapter 1 · 09:00–09:40
The Reading Mat
Ixesha Lokufunda
The show opens with a story and a poem. Adventures with Sesona is written by a Playdate producer and set right here in Makhanda — every episode plays with new words and sounds in a sentence.
Adventures with Sesona
Grouped by phonic sound — pick a sound to hear it in a story.
Voice notes and studio visits from kids around Makhanda.
Grown-ups: ask The Playdate team how your Playmate can send a voice note.
Playmates recording their phonic sounds at the mic
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Archive
Missed a Saturday? Full shows go up here after they air. New episodes are added as they’re ready.
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Coming soon
The team
Meet the Playdate team
These are the voices bringing stories, sounds and plenty of silliness to Makhanda's Playmates every Saturday. On air, they go by their Playdate names. Tap to discover each person's favourite word and book.
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Join the team
Want to be part of The Playdate?
The show is run entirely by volunteers, and there's always room for one more!
Volunteer PlaymateHelp on air and in the studio on Saturday mornings.
Content contributorWrite, record or share stories, poems, games and music.
Reclaiming the play-space from a phone-based childhood
The Playdate is the practical component of Debbie Matthee's Master's in Journalism at Rhodes University. Her study develops a community radio model for literacy support in Makhanda, asking how radio can build a love of story in a screen-based childhood.
The need is real: around 8 in 10 Grade 4 learners in South Africa cannot read for meaning (PIRLS 2021). And as play moves onto screens, children have fewer chances to hear stories told aloud.
The research sits across Communication Studies, Social Psychology and Education. It is practice-based, pairing a mini-thesis with the show you hear on Rhodes Music Radio (RMR) every Saturday.
Literacy Heroes
Every reader needs a hero
Organisations and champions who visit The Playdate to share tools, services and events that Playmates and their families can use.
Jolene Tarr (left, in red) at our Outside Broadcast, Joza Youth Hub, 10 October
20 years of Lebone
Lebone Centre
Early learning and literacy · Makhanda
Lebone Centre is one of The Playdate's biggest cheerleaders, and a bit of a role model for us too. This year Lebone turned 20! They have spent all that time building tools and programmes that put Makhanda's kids on the path to reading.
Lebone's Director, Jolene Tarr, came to cheer us on at our Outside Broadcast at the Joza Youth Hub. And Wordworks gave Lebone and Cathy Gush a special award at its 20-year celebration in Cape Town.
Next Step, Baby!A parenting programme for mums of toddlers, with toys made from recycled materials to play and bond with at home.
Fathers4FuturesLebone's first project just for dads (and other male role models), helping them read with their kids at home.
Hearing screeningChecks for over 200 preschool and Foundation Phase learners at local schools.
Leaping into LiteracyThird-year B.Ed students learn by working with Grade R learners at George Dickerson Primary.
The Right to Read
Rethabile Sindi
Candidate Attorney · Legal Resources Centre
Did you know that every child has the right to read? On Human Rights Day 2026, Rethabile popped into the studio to tell the Playmates all about it.
She is part of The Right to Read Campaign, a big team of organisations who want every child in South Africa to learn to read in their first four years of school. They are asking for clear rules that make reading a national priority.
Rethabile and her team are writing those rules now, and will hand them to the Minister of Basic Education. That’s a big job!
Madoda visited The Playdate to record and share iintsomi — traditional isiXhosa folktales. Through his work with organisations like Nal'ibali and the Lebone Centre, he is encouraging South African fathers to become active reading role models.
An Eastern Cape-born father of two daughters, he founded the Men's Literacy Imbizo in 2022 to mobilise more fathers. The growing movement invites men to reflect on their own literacy journeys, and on how reading and education shaped their lives.
“We remind them that they have an important role to play not only in their children's education but also as reading role models.”
Local authors, readers and Playmates come into the RMR studio to share their stories — and to be interviewed by the kids who listen.
Funo MasindiWriter · Adventures with Sesona
Zandile Mnisi LaMvuleniAuthor · Khaya Wants to Row
Thembeka Sandi-MailaAuthor · Buffy and Bibby my dogs
Nolwakhe SeweloAuthor · Masonwabe Sonke
Zandile in the RMR studioThembekaFunoNolwakhe
Storyteller profiles
Home grown
Funo Masindi
Writer and creator · Adventures with Sesona
Funo started out as a Playdate presenter, and soon realised that every week was a chance to teach phonics. That makes sense, because in real life Funo is a phonics fairy! She is in her fourth year of a Bachelor of Education at Rhodes University.
So she started writing stories about Sesona, a girl who travels across South Africa learning about all the themes we cover on The Playdate. Funo writes every word herself, and uses AI only to help with the illustrations.
Zandile Mnisi LaMvuleni
Author · Child literacy advocate
Zandile is a writer, public speaker and child literacy advocate with a deep belief in the power of stories to open young minds. She joined The Playdate to share her picture book, Khaya Wants to Row — the story of a boy who dreams of becoming a rower, and the special surprise his Mkhulu plans for him. Created at Book Dash 24 in Cape Town, it is free to read and download in English and isiXhosa.
She is a Team Leader at RUCE (Rhodes University Community Engagement) and a committee member of Ink Society, Rhodes University's creative writing society. As a freelance writer, she finds joy in "saving the world one word at a time" — and in her leisure moments, you will find her immersed in a good book.
Makhanda-born Thembeka is a self-published children's book author with a deep love for storytelling and early childhood development. She joined The Playdate to share her book, Buffy and Bibby my dogs — a sweet, real-life story about welcoming two puppies into a family, and the lessons children can learn about love, care and responsibility.
With a background in Library and Information Science, she worked in libraries for many years, reading stories to children and engaging them in learning activities — which inspired her to start writing her own books. Through Thamteshi Children's Books, she creates relatable, fun and meaningful stories that encourage a love for reading, especially in African communities.
You know her on air as Mama Africa, and she's the creator of our Guess the Instrument game. Now you'll see why! Nolwakhe is a Makhanda-based educator, author, singer and songwriter who has spent more than eight years bringing literacy, music and movement to children in under-resourced schools.
She has written 12 books, including Exercise with Yveslight, Chessercise and Masonwabe Sonke. They teach music literacy using isiXhosa syllables, and chess through movement, with an African child in mind. Her Creative Arts Educational School Tour has visited more than 84 schools across three provinces.
She founded the Yveslight Institution of Skills and Leadership (YISL) and co-founded the Sewelo Maths and Chess Community Youth Academy. YISL gets young people reading and using libraries around Joza and local schools, working with spaces like the Duna Library.
Nolwakhe was born in the North West and has roots in Mount Frere. She holds a Master's in Musicology with distinction, and studied at North-West University and the University of Jyväskylä in Finland. She has taught music, maths, English, ECD and life skills in Potchefstroom, Mahikeng, Polokwane and Makhanda. In 2021 she joined Rhodes University as an nGAP lecturer, and she is now doing postgraduate studies in ethnomusicology. She is a mother to Oratile and Omolemo, and a passionate minister of the Gospel. In her words, serving children is her calling and hearing their cry is her assignment.
Playmates visiting the Rhodes Music Radio studio
Outside Broadcast · Joza Youth Hub · 10 October 2026
We took the show to Joza
Over 200 learners from 20 schools and ECDs across Makhanda joined us live on air. Stationery and story books were given out as prizes to motivate learners to enter the joy of storytelling.
