THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE PRESS TRUST OF SOUTH AFRICA NEWS AGENCY IN 1980

I want to acknowledge all the colleagues who kept the PTSA alive during the oppressive period from 1980 to 1990.

(FAWZIA MOODLEY, NEIL LEWIS, THYNA SUBRAMONEY AND DIANE COETZER) While going through my files during this time of lockdown as a result of the Corona Virus pandemic, I decided to record some details about how we initiated the Press Trust of SA News Agency.

It all started in November/December 1980, after I resigned from the Daily News in Durban, to launch a new progressive struggle newspaper, Ukusa. In this project, I worked with struggle stalwarts such as Griffith Mxenge, Archie Gumede, Dr A E Gangat and Dr Kurshod Ginwala. We set up office on the second floor of the 320 West Street building, near the former main railway station, in central Durban and was all set to get off the ground.

(ARCHIE GUMEDE SEATED WITH ARCHBISHOP DENIS HURLEY AND MEWA RAMGOBIN ADDRESSING A PROTEST ACTION IN DURBAN IN THE 198s)

(Dr Korshed Ginwala, who was one of the initiators of the alternative Ukusa newspaper)

(GRIFFITH MXENGE) But the former apartheid regime had other ideas. Two dreaded security policemen raided our office sometime at the end of December 1980 and handed me a three-year banning order. They warned me that I should leave the office immediately because in terms of my banning order, I was restricted from being in a news office.

At this time when I was busy with the Ukusa project, I, at the same time set up an alternative news agency, Press Trust of SA, to supply radio stations and news organisations around the world with news reports and analytical articles about the socio-political developments in South Africa.

I used to report for the BBC Africa Service, Deutsche Welle Africa English, Radio France Internationale, Radio Nederlands, radio stations in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. At the same time, I established contacts with the Press Trust of India (PTI) and news organisations in the US, West Indies, Kenya, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. The banning order against me followed hot on the heels of my detention at the hands of the security police while I was still working at the Daily News. The security police targeted me at a time when I was reporting on the schools’ boycott and at a time when some politicians within the system accused me of encouraging the school children to embark on the protest actions.

The politicians believed that I was propagating the banned ANC and warned me that I was playing with fire. They threatened that I would be dealt with.

The security police, for their part, wanted to crush my involvement with a number of anti-apartheid activists in launching the struggle Ukusa newspaper.

(A SECURITY POLICE INFORMER PUBLISHED THIS LETTER IN THE CITIZEN NEWSPAPER IN THE 1980s ABOUT ME REPORTING AGAINST SOUTH AFRICA IN THE FOREIGN MEDIA, ESPECIALLY DEUTSCHE WELLE) The banning order also prevented me from continuing with my work as a correspondent for the international radio stations and news organisations. But I was not deterred and obtained the support of my wife, Thyna, and several reporters in continuing with the Press Trust news agency. Some of the people who joined to ensure the running of the news agency were Neil Lewis, Liz McGregor, Muff Anderson, Mark Bennett, Rob Montgomery, Deven Maistry, Fawzia Moodley, Jabulani Sikakhane, Skumbuzo Manyoni and Diane Coetzer. We even set up an office in Johannesburg for Liz McGregor and Muff Anderson. They operated in the building where the South African Council of Churches was based. While Liz and Muff worked for a very brief period, all the other colleagues worked for PTSA in Durban for various periods. After my banning orders expired in 1983, I returned to the news agency and continued with the work for PTI and various radio stations around the world.

From 1980 to 1990 we moved office several times from 320 West Street Building to two buildings between Gardiner Street and Field Street and one in Smith Street, near the Durban High Court. At one time we also operated from a building in the town of Verulam, north of Durban.

(BBC AFRICA COLLEAGUES WHO I USED TO INTERACT WITH IN THE 1980s after my banning orders) We continued with this work until 1990 when, after the unbanning of the ANC and the release of Nelson Mandela, I was offered a position to work as a Foreign Correspondent for the Press Trust of India in Johannesburg. While working for PTI, I at the same time also continued with my work for Radio Deutsche Welle, Radio Nederlands, Radio France Internationale and other radio stations around the world.

(STAFF AT RADIO DEUTSCHE WELLE WHO I USED TO INTERACT WITH DURING THE DARKS DAYS OF REPORTING FROM SOUTH AFRICA) I worked as a Foreign Correspondent in Johannesburg until 1995 when I joined the SABC in Durban as a senior political correspondent on a full-time basis. During the period 1980 to 1990, I was denied my passport several times to take up a scholarship to study at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and a one-year scholarship to work at Radio Deutsche Welle.

(WITH JOURNALIST COLLEAGUES IN NAMIBIA WHILE COVERING THE NAMIBIAN INDEPENDENCE ELECTIONS IN 1990)

(INTERVIEWING FLORENCE MKHIZE AT THE OFFICES OF GRIFFITH MXENGE IN DURBAN DURING THE DAYS OF THE APARTHEID)

(COVERING THE NKOMATI ACCORD BETWEEN SOUTH AFRICA AND MOZAMBIQUE IN 1989)

(INTERVIEWED AHMED KATHRADA FOR THE PRESS TRUST OF INDIA AFTER HIS RELEASE FROM ROBBEN ISLAND IN 1989. THE INTERVIEW TOOK PLACE AT HIS RELATIVE'S PLACE IN LENASIA, JOHANNESBURG. WITH HIM IS ONE OF THE ACTIVISTS.)

(VISITING A SUPPORTER IN SWEDEN IN 1978)

(WRITING ABOUT WHY PEOPLE OF COLOUR WOULD NOT SUPPORT INTERNATIONAL SPORTS UNTIL FULL FREEDOM WAS ACHIEVED)

(LETTER PUBLISHED IN THE SUNDAY TRIBUNE ABOUT SOUTH AFRICA'S SPORTING ISOLATION)

MAJORITY RULE BEFORE ENDING SPORTING ISOLATION) BUT DESPITE THE EFFORTS OF ANTI-APARTHEID SPORTS LEADERS LIKE M N PATHER, MORGAN NAIDOO, HASSAN HOWA AND OTHERS - THE SOUTH AFRICAN WHITE CRICKET BOSSES MANAGED TO LURE FORMER WEST INDIAN CAPTAIN, ALVIN KALLICHARAN, TO VISIT SOUTH AFRICA.

(ALVIN KALLICHARAN WITH MIKE PROCTOR IN DURBAN)

(THE REGIME CONTINUED WITH ITS HARRASSMENT AGAINST ME AND AT ONE TIME OFFERED ME AN EXIT PERMIT OUT OF THE COUNTRY)

(AT THE FNB STADIUM IN JOHANNESBURG IN FEB 1990 WHEN NELSON MANDELA WAS GIVEN A HERO'S WELCOME AFTER BEING RELEASED FROM LIFE IMPRISONMENT)

(AFTER THE RELEASE OF NELSON MANDELA THE PRETORIA REGIME TRIED TO PROMOTE GREATER RELATIONS WITH AFRICAN COUNTRIES. IN `1991 THE REGIME WENT ON A VISIT TO NIGERIA AND WE AS FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS WERE INVITED TO ACCOMPANY THE PRETORIA LEADERS. I WAS WORKING FOR PTI AS A FOREEIGN CORRESPONDENT AT THIS TIME.)

(PRESS CARDS AFTER 1990)

(PRESS CARDS AFTER 1990)

(PRESS CARDS AFTER 1990)

(PRESS CARDS FOR PTI BETWEEN 1990 AND 1995) SINCE 1995 WHEN I JOINED THE SABC, I COVERED MANY CONFERENCES AND VISITED INDIA REPORTING ON THE OFFICIAL VISITS OF NELSON MANDELA IN 1995, THABO MBEKI IN 1997 AND I ALSO COVERED THE TSUNAMI DISASTER IN TAMIL NADU IN EARLY 2000.

(AHMED KATHRADA WHO JOINED NELSON MANDELA DURING THE 1995 OPFFICIAL VISIT TO INDIA SEEN HERE WITH A COLLEAGUE AT THE MAHATMA GANDHI ASHRAM IN GUJERAT)

(COVERING THE GOPIO CONFERENCE IN MAURITIUS IN 1996)

(INTERVIEWING THE FIRST CONSUL GENERAL OF INDIA AND ANOTHER GUEST FROM INDIA AFTER 1995) (ALSO WITH THE SABC STAFF IN DURBAN AT THAT TIME)

(GOPIO CONFERENCE IN MAURITIUS IN 1996)

(THIS WAS DURING A VISIT TO SRI LANKA IN 1999 IN THE COMPANY OF FELLOW SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNALISTS. WE WERE INVITED BY THE SRI LANKAN GOVERNMENT AT A TIME WHEN THE WAR WITH THE TAMIL TIGERS WAS AT ITS PEAK)

(SOME OF THE BROADCAST TRAINING CERTIFICATES I WAS AWARDED AFTER ATTENDING A NUMBER OF TRAINING COURSES)

(PLAYING GOLF WITH CECIL MSOMI, GARY GOVINDSAMY AND AMI NANAKCHAND WHILE WE WERE SENIOR JOURNALISTS AT THE SABC)

(VISITING INDIA IN 2008 AS PART OF INDIAN-ORIGIN JOURNALISTS FROM AROUND THE WORLD)

(VISITING ROBBEN ISLAND AND THE CELL OF NELSON MANDELA SOMETIME IN 2000 WHILE STILL AT THE SABC)