%20mtg%20in%20Durban%20in%20early%201977.jpg)
“COOLIE
JOURNALIST”
Media
release for launch of “Coolie Journalist” at the Umhlanga Apart-Hotel, 60
Meridian Drive, Umhlanga in Durban on Sunday, January 25 at 11am.
“Coolie
Journalist”, the autobiography of veteran former South African “struggle”
journalist, Marimuthu Subramoney (aka Subry Govender), is to be launched in
Umhlanga in Durban later this month.
Govender,
79, has been in the profession for more than 50 years as a print and radio
journalist, especially during the dark days of apartheid repression in the late
1960s, 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s.
The
book traces his formative years in the rural village of Ottawa, about 30km
north of the city of Durban, where he worked in the sugar cane fields in his
school boy days and then reaching great heights in the journalism profession.
He
considered journalism not as an 8am to 5pm job but as a profession where
journalists could play their roles in making a difference for the better in the
lives of fellow citizens.
It
was this commitment that led to him facing heavy harassment and intimidation at
the hands of the security police of the former apartheid regime, detention,
banning restrictions, the denial of a passport for more than 10 years, and the
tragic loss of his son, five-month-old Vishen, in early 1980. The child passed
on after Subry could not take him to hospital for urgent medical treatment
because he was confined to his home during certain hours, in terms of his
banning order by the apartheid regime.
Despite
this tragedy, the book highlights the fact that journalism for him has been an
eventful journey - from being a clerk in an insurance company in the 1960s, to
being a freelance correspondent in the late 1960s and early 1970s, a
full-time journalist for the Durban Daily News newspaper between 1973 and 1980,
to being a radio correspondent, to a stint as a senior political
correspondent for the public SABC broadcaster after freedom in 1994,
running local community newspapers, and being a correspondent for
overseas print and electronic media outlets such as the BBC, Radio Deutsche
Welle, Radio Netherlands and Radio France Internationale.
The
book also highlights Subry’s struggles to launch a Durban weekly newspaper,
Ukusa, with the help of prominent anti-apartheid leaders in the 1980s after he
was banned and house arrested in December 1980. The banning order and the
denial of a passport was imposed on Subry by the apartheid regime after he
became one of the committed journalists who openly espoused the cause of
freedom for the majority of the people of South Africa in the 1970s, 1980s and
early 1990s.
The
book, according to one of his former colleagues, Brijlall Ramguthee, is an
‘incisive read’ with many anecdotes about the struggles by journalists against
the apartheid regime in the 1970s and 1980s. Ramguthie is one of three
joiurnalist colleagues who have written forewords for the book. The others are
Ms Fawzia Moodley and Mr Ravi Govender.
Ms
Moodley writes that in our post-apartheid South Africa “where many of our youth
are ignorant of the blood, sweat and tears of the hundreds of thousands of
people who contributed to the liberation of this country, ‘Coolie Journalist’,
makes an important contribution to our struggle history”.
“Simply
told, it is a book that every school child should have access to, lest we
forget that we owe our freedom to people of all races, classes and creeds. We
all know of the role of Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Ahmed
Kathrada, Albertina Sisulu and Winnie Mandela in fighting apartheid. Now we
need to learn about the Subry Govenders’ of this country who played an equally
important role by chipping away patiently at the Apartheid monolith until it
was eventually destroyed in 1994.”
For
Subry Govender himself the struggles for media freedom and for freedom in
general, were not only struggles during the apartheid era but also during the
new freedom and liberty after 1994.
In
his conclusion in the book, Govender emphasises that “media freedom in our new
democracy should not be tampered with because without freedom of speech and
freedom of the media, democracy would not survive in the new South Africa”.
“This
is the legacy that I would like to leave behind for aspiring journalists and
for them to make a contribution to social, political and economic development
by ensuring that as a journalist they make a difference for the better in the
lives of the people and society.”
Subry
Govender emphasises this by quoting freedom icon and first president of a new
post-apartheid South Africa, Nelson Mandela, who repeated this famous principle
when he addressed thousands of people in Cape Town after being released in
February 1990. This is what he repeated:
“I
have fought against White domination, and I have fought against Black
domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in
which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is
an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an
ideal for which I am prepared to die.”
The
launch of “Coolie Journalist” will take place at the Umhlanga Apart-Hotel, 60
Meridian Drive, Umhlanga in Durban at 11am. The details of the venue are found
in this link:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/u9nYi7s93JL9v4br7?g_st=aw
Two
veteran former editors and journalists, Mr Bridgelal Ramguthie, and Mr Nunda
Subban, will be the main speakers at the launch. Mr Subban is also a prominent
cartoonist, artist and founder of the Centre for Fine Art, Animation and Design
(CFAD) in Durban.
Mr
Ramguthie and Mr Subban are scores of former journalists who worked closely
with Subry Govender during the “journalist struggle years”.
Ends
– Jan 1 2026 subrygovender@gmail.com
Cell: 082 376 9053
No comments:
Post a Comment