BLACK WEDNESDAY OCT 19 1977 HIGHLIGHTS THE STRUGGLES FOR MEDIA FREEDOM IN THE 1970s, 1980s and EARLY 1990s

MEDIA STRUGGLES TO BRING ABOUT A FREE AND DEMOCRATIC SOUTH AFRICA

(Members of the Union of Black Journalists at a meeting at the Wentworth Hotel in Durban early in 1977)

On October 19 2022, South Africans once again reflect on the state of the media in the new democratic South Africa by observing the 45th anniversary of the crack down on the media by the former apartheid regime on October 19, 1977. Marimuthu Subramoney, aka Subry Govender, recalls the struggles of the journalists during the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s and warns that South Africans must continue to promote media freedom and guard against any attempts by the  new elite to smother the media..... . 

 OCTOBER 19 AND THE STRUGGLES OF JOURNALISTS IN THE 1970S, 1980S AND 1990s

(Zwelakhe Sisulu)

One of our formidable struggle journalists during the 1970s and 1980s, Zwelakhe Sisulu, who died at the age of 61 on October 4 2012, has been duly acknowledged along with scores of other journalists for being involved in the  struggles to bring about the new non-racial, free and democratic South Africa.

(Media struggle veterans who attended the funeral of Zwelakhe Sisulu in Johannesburg in Oct 2012)

In this article, I want to go back to the days when Zwelakhe and a large number of journalists put their lives on the line to contribute to the liberation struggles. 

Before I go into meat of the media struggles in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s, I want to submit that the suppression of the media during the apartheid era did not start when the white baaskap National Party came to political power in 1948. But it had its roots when the first newspapers were started by the colonial authorities in the early 1800s. 

However, I am not going to go back in history but would deal primarily with the period when the National Party introduced all kinds of laws to suppress, oppress, harrass and intimidate journalists - especially journalists of colour. Being white, colonial and racial driven - the media during this period was mainly concerned with maintaining and retaining white domination of the social, economic and political fabric of South Africa. 

                                   MEDIA - COLONIAL MENTALITY

The whites owned, controlled, managed and edited nearly all the newspapers - with the exception of one or two minor and insignificant publications - and the National Party monopolised the airwaves in the name of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). 
The National Party, which F W De Klerk unashamedly tried to sell to the people of Indian-origin, coloured people and Africans in the early 1990s, had in their arsenal more than 100 statutes that limited the freedom of the Press. 
The repressive atmosphere really began after the Sharpeville uprisings on March 21 1960 when police shot dead peaceful marchers who were protesting against the carrying of the hateful Dom-Pass. 

The National Party Government introduced a state of emergency and banned the ANC and the PAC and crushed all opposition to white minority rule. Publications such as the New Age, Fighting Talk, Advance and Guardian were forced to close shop and the journalists working in these and other progressive newspapers either had to flee the country or go underground. 
During this period of repression, some of the only black-oriented newspapers that were allowed to operate were the Drum magazine and the Golden City Post. Although they reported on some political developments, they were, however, no danger to the existence of the white state. Being white-owned and managed, these newspapers concentrated on the sensational - sex, crime and gangs and sport - in order to survive. 
There were some journalists during this period who dared to question the white status quo - but they too were quickly intimidated and forced to flee the country or tone down. 

                                     BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS 

 In the early 1970s - when the black consciousness movement took root after the establishment of the South African Students Organisation (SAS0) - a number of black journalists came to the fore - prepared to take on the white oppressors irrespective of the consequences. These journalists were primarily working at that time for newspapers such as the World and Weekend World, and socially-conscious journalists working for mainstream newspapers such as the former Rand Daily Mail, the East London Daily Dispatch, the Cape Times and Argus, the Johannesburg Star and the Durban Daily News. 

They tried to introduce a new and dynamic approach to journalism by tackling the social, economic, sporting and political oppression of the black majority. The struggle for freedom of the Press and the liberty of the people had just started in earnest once again. 

                                FRELIMO RALLY 

 But no sooner had black journalists - with a black consciousness background - began to tackle real and fundamental issues affecting the majority - the System struck back with vengeance in 1974 when the Frelimo rally was scheduled to be held at Durban's Currie's Fountain. The apartheid regime banned the rally and prohibited newspapers from publishing any news item that would amount to publicising the event. 

This correspondent was at this time with the Daily News and assigned to cover the rally. This correspondent was not only detained and interrogated but my editor, Mr John O'Mally, was charged for publicising the event. Another colleague, Joan Dobson, skipped the country and fled into exile because the apartheid regime suspected she was in league with the organisers of the rally. After the dawn of our new demcoracy in April 1994, she began reporting from Harare for the SABC's AM and PM live programmes at that time.

                                    ROBBEN ISLAND 

 As a matter of interest, black consciousness leaders like the late Strini Moodley, Saths Cooper, Aubrey Mokoape and others were charged under the infamous Terrorism Act and as a result of the rally were convicted and sentenced to Robben Island. Further onslaughts against the media began after the 1976 Soweto uprisings when school children protested against the imposition of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in their schools. Two months after the Soweto uprisings nine black journalists, who played a leading role in reporting events in Soweto, were detained under the regime's Internal Security Act, and two others were incarcerated under Section 6 of the Terrorism Act. 

 

                             TERRORISM ACT 

 Among the very first to be arrested was Joe Thloloe, who was at that time working for the World Newspaper; Peter Magubane, South Africa's world-famous photo-journalist who worked at that time for the Rand Daily Mail and Miss Thenjiwe Mntintso, who worked at the Daily Dispatch in East London at that time. 

 

                    UNION OF BLACK JOURNALISTS 

(Juby Mayet)

                                                (Mathatha Tseudu)

(Duma Ndhlovu)

                                        (Isaac Moroe)

(Don Mattera)

(Enoch Duma)

 The majority of them were held for about four months without being tried in a court of law. They were released at the end of December 1976 but some were re-arrested in 1977. Joe Thloloe was one of those re-arrested and he was held incommunicado for 547 days under Section of the Terrorism Act. The others were Willie Bokala, a reporter for the banned World newspaper who was held in detention for more than a year; Jan Tugwana, a reporter for the then Rand Daily Mail who was also held in detention for more than a year under Section 6 of the Terrorism Act; Ms Juby Mayet, a doyen of black journalists who was held incommunicado under the Internal Security Act at the Fort Prison in Johannesburg; Isaac Moroe, the first president of the Writers Association of SA (WASA) in Bloemfontein; and Bularo Diphoto, a free-lance journalist in the town of Kroonstad who was also detained under Section 6 of the Terrorism Act. Another journalist, Mr Moffat Zungu, who was a reporter for the World Newspaper, was an accused in the Pan African Congress (PAC) trial that took place in Bethal, near Johannesburg. He was first detained under Section 6 of the Terrorism Act. The blackest day in the history of Press Freedom in so far as the black majority was concerned took place on October 19 1977 when the notorious Jimmy Kruger banned the only two newspapers respected among black people - the World and Weekend World. Mr Kruger, who became infamous for describing Steve Biko's death two months earlier as - "It leaves me cold" - at the same time banned the Union of Black Journalists(UBJ) and 17 other organisations; the publication of the UBJ - AZIZTHULA; religious and student publications; locked up the editor and news editor of the World and Weekend World - the late Percy Qoboza and the late Aggrey Klaaste respectively; and banned for five years the Editor of the Daily Dispatch, the late Donald Woods. The regime also confiscated all our stationery and equipment and seized our funds. Six other journalists were also detained at this time - including Thenjiwe Mntintso, a former ambassador now based at the ANC headquarters in Johannesburg; and Enoch Duma - who worked for the Star newspaper at that time. He fled into exile after being released after more than two years in detention. He returned to the country after the 1990s. 

                                               Leslie Xinwa 

                                         

(Rashid Seria of Cape Town)

 Almost every member of the UBJ was visited by the security police all over the country; their homes and offices raided and searched and interrogated. All the raids were carried out at the unearthly hours of 4am and 5am in the morning. I remember my mother knocking my door and saying in our Tamil mother tongue: "Some white people are here asking for you." My rooms were searched and all literature relating to the UBJ were confiscated. They even confiscated a letter I had written to the late Prime Minister of India, Mrs Indira Gandhi. I don't know whether that letter reached Mrs Gandhi because India at that time was leading the international struggle against minority rule in South Africa. After completing their raid, they took me to the Daily News in Field Street in Durban where they searched my desk. 

When representations were made to Mr Kruger for the release of the detained journalists, he had the temerity to announce that the detentions were not meant to intimidate the Press and that his Government had good reasons to detain the journalists. It was during this traumatic period that another publication of the UBJ, UBJ Bulletin, and all subsequent editions were banned. 

                                 (Some of the journalists who supported the establishment of the alternative media at a meeting in Johannesburg in the 1980s)

The UBJ Bulletin contained some revealing articles about the activities of the South African Police during the Soweto uprisings. Four UBJ officials - Juby Mayet, Joe Thloloe, Mike Nkadimeng and the late Mike Norton - were charged for producing an undesirable publication. Inspite of world-wide condemnation of the banning, detention and harassment of journalists, the state security police continued with their jack-boot tactics. 

 In Durban two Daily News journalists - Wiseman Khuzwayo and Quarish Patel - were detained without trial for more than three months. 

                                             PROTESTS 

(Zwelakhe Sisulu, Juby Mayat, and other colleagues staging a protest march in Johannesburg in November 1977 after the banning of the UBJ)

On November 30 1977, the day white South Africa went to the polls to give John Vorster another mandate to continue to oppress the black majority, 29 black journalists, including the late Zwelakhe Sisulu and Ms Juby Mayet, who is now also late, staged a march in the centre of Johannesburg against the banning of the UBJ and the detention of journalists. They were detained for the night at the notorious John Vorster Police station and charged under the Riotous Assemblies Act and fined R50 each. Some of our colleagues who found it impossible to continue to work in South Africa skipped the country under trying circumstances. They included Duma Ndhlovu, Nat Serache, Boy Matthews Nonyang and Wiseman Khuzwayo. Those who remained - including Juby Mayet, Zwelakhe Sisulu, Philip Mthimkulu, Joe Thloloe, Charles Nqakula, Rashid Seria, this correspondent and many others - vowed to continue the struggle. We committed ourselves in the belief that there could be no Press freedom in South Africa as long as the society in which we lived was not free. But the regime was also determined to make life difficult for us. In July 1978 when we scheduled to hold a gathering of former UBJ members in Port Elizabeth to chart our future course of action - the regime banned our gathering and prohibited us from travelling to the Eastern Cape city. But being determined to take on the regime head-on, we quickly re-scheduled our meeting to be held in the town of Verulam, about 25km north of Durban. Unknown to us, the dreaded Security Police tapped our telephone conversations and had the Starlite Hotel in Verulam bugged. The Security Police were listening to the entire proceedings of our meeting and immediately decided that we were a bunch of "media terriorists" who should be taken out of society. 

 

                                                 NEW APPROACH 

 At our meeting we decided to establish our own daily and weekly newspapers and a news agency because we were of the firm belief that the establishment media was not catering for the black majority. The white establishment media of that era, as you have already been informed, was aimed at protecting and promoting the privileges of the white minority. But sadly, we did not have the resources to embark on such ambitious projects. Nevertheless, many of us who became frustrated with the establishment media began to make arrangements for the establishment of regional newspapers that would provide an alternative voice to the establishment media and the National Party-controlled SABC. When the regime leaders realised that black journalists were not prepared to cow down and submit to their dictates, they intensified their harassment. In June 1980 when school children all over the country boycotted classes against the unequal and inferior education system for black children, the security police once again targeted journalists. They detained many of us for lengthy periods, claiming that black journalists had been encouraging black children to boycott classes. Zwelakhe Sisulu was during that period of repression detained for nearly two years. In Durban, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth, East London and other centres - black journalists continued to work with the community in an attempt to establish alternative newspapers. 

                            

                             PRESS TRUST OF SOUTH AFRICA 

 In Durban, the Press Trust of South Africa Third World News Agency was established as one of the first moves to provide the outside world with accurate information about the situation in South Africa. The news agency was established to operate alongside the running of the alternative newspaper, Ukusa. But just when the newspaper was set to start publishing with the blessing of the community, the state struck again and banned its Managing Editor - this correspondent; and also Zwelakhe Sisulu, Joe Thloloe, Philip Mthimkulu and Charles Nqakula in December 1980. This was a massive blow for the alternative media because all the journalists were fully involved in the various projects. Some of the publications that they were involved in were UKUSA in Durban, Grassroots in Cape Town, Speak in Johannesburg and Umthonyana in Port Elizabeth. The South African Council of Churches also sponsored the publication of a newspaper called The Voice. Philip Mthimkulu and Juby Mayet worked for this newspaper before they were banned. The journalists in question were put out of circulation for three years until the end of `1983 when their banning orders expired. But during their period of forced exile, the journalists did not remain idle - for instance the Press Trust of South Africa News Agency continued to operate under some trying conditions, intimidation and harassment. All the banned journalists also kept in touch with one another and on one occasion two of us - Zwelakhe Sisulu and the writer - even met under secrecy in Johannesburg to discuss the establishment of alternative newspapers once our banning orders expired. 

(Charles Nqakula, Subry Govender and Philip Mthimkulu)

During this period Charles Nqakula skipped the country to join the ANC. Upon his return he served the new government in various positions, including Minister of Defence. Between 1980 and 1983 - the Press Trust News Agency managed to supply news to the outside world about the struggles in South Africa. When our banning orders expired - most of us went straight back to our task of continuing to provide an alternative voice for the black majority. In Johannesburg - Zwelakhe Sisulu initiated the establishment of the New Nation newspaper with the assistance of the South African Catholic Bishops Conference; in Cape Town Rashid Seria initiated the establishment of the South Newspaper; and in other parts of the country many other progressive forces and journalists began to establish alternative publications. Student organisations and leaders also produced a variety of alternative publications. 

In Durban we continued with the Press Trust News Agency and supplied on the spot and analytical reports to radio stations in the United States, Europe, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore and at one time we even supplied information to the Tass News Agency, which was based in Zimbabwe after that country's independence in 1980. Some of the radio stations we supplied reports to included, the BBC, Radio Netherlands, Radio Deutsche Welle or Voice of Germany, Radio France Internationale and the Zimbabwean Broadcasting Corporation. In Durban some journalists also established the New African newspaper. 

                                            UNITED DEMOCRATIC FRONT 

 While we were determined to report the struggles for a free society - the apartheid regime was also determined to crush us. It began another round of repression through P W Botha and in 1986 introduced some of the most repressive methods to suppress journalists. At this time the regime had introduced the tri-racial parliament for whites, coloured people and people of Indian origin; while the progressive forces established the United Democratic Front (UDF). The UDF, together with the alternative media, the churches, trade unions and student organisations provided the regime with the biggest challenge - that the days of white minority rule are nearing an end. Most of us - who were in the forefront of the alternative media - were under constant surveillance. For instance, during the emergency regulations in 1986 and 1987 - every time there was a knock on our door - we lifted our heads to see if it was the Security Police. On one occasion more than 10 Security Policemen raided our office situated at that time in Protea House in the former West Street in Durban and confiscated a pile of documents. On another occasion - our offices were mysteriously burgled and a computer, printer, computer discs, casettes, and even an automatic telephone were stolen. We reported the incident to the police and when one finger-print expert came to the office - we told him not to look too far for the thieves because the culprits would be either in the security police or national intelligence offices. 

 

SECURITY POLICE HARRASSMENT 

 The period of sustained security police intimidation and harassment we experienced was just an example of what the alternative media organisations and individuals encountered during that period. All of us were also denied passports to travel overseas - the regime pontificated that we were "a danger to the security of the state" and, therefore, our movements had to be restricted. The New Nation and the Weekly Mail - two alternative newspapers in Johannesburg - were banned several times from 1986 to 1990. The only time we were given respite was after the ANC, PAC, SACP and other organisations were unbanned early in 1990. The sad demise of Zwelakhe Sisulu and struggle journalists, who contributed enormously to the dawn of our new our new South Africa, was yet another occasion for us to reflect on the contributions made by "struggle journalists". 

 STRUGGLE JOURNALISTS 

 And now on October 19 202, 28 years into our new democratic South Africa we must ask ourselves whether we still face problems in the new democratic order. There's no doubt that certain moves by the ruling ANC in the mid-2000 to introduce some measures to control the media was a reminder that those we had put in power had become a threat to the freedom of speech, freedom of information and the freedom of the Press that we fought and sacrficied for. Personally, I see no need for any law to protect any information - except for information that threatens the security of the state. But all other information are of interest and importance to the citizen. We need to know how state officials, politicians and others are ripping us off through bribery, corruption and state tenders. Fortunately, this move by the ANC regime was withdrawn after consistent and strong opposition by the people in general. 

 NO ALTERNATIVE TO A FREE MEDIA 

 A country without a free media is not free at all and this must be communicated to the current people in political power. Our first democratic president, Nelson Mandela, repeatedly told us how much he appreciated the work we had done for their freedom and how it was important that we continued to keep a check on the new politicians. He made it clear that the new politicians are answerable to the citizenry and not the other way round. It seems our work is not finished. A La Continua - the struggle continues. – ends Oct 19 2022 subrygovender@gmail.com

NORMAN MIDDLETON - RECALLING HIS STRUGGLES FOR A NON-RACIAL AND DEMOCRATIC SOUTH AFRICA

 

                                  

 

Just over a month ago, on July 2 2022, it was seven years since the passing of one of the strongest anti-apartheid sports administrators in South Africa. Mr Norman Middleton died at the age of 94 at his residence in Cape Town. Mr Middleton worked with sports leaders of the calibre of Mr Hassan Howa, Mr Morgan Naidoo, Mr M N Pather, Mr R K Naidoo, Mr Cassim Bassa, and scores of other anti-apartheid leaders in isolating apartheid sport prior to the dawn of freedom in 1994.

At the time of his passing in 2015, I wrote a lengthy and comprehensive article about Middleton’s contributions to the non-racial struggle despite the harassment, intimidation and denial of passport by the former apartheid regime.

I want to re-publish this article to recall the struggles for a non-racial and democratic South Africa. Sadly, the contributions and values and principles of leaders of the calibre of Mr Middleton have been thrown aside for a new form of racism in our country.

THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF ANTI-APARTHEID LEADER, NORMAN MIDDLETON, IN THE STRUGGLES FOR A NON-RACIAL AND DEMOCRATIC SOUTH AFRICA

   

By Marimuthu Subramoney

(aka Subry Govender) (July 8 2015)

 

"I will not be blackmailed into being granted a passport because I am fighting for non-racial sport and a free and democratic South Africa."

This was the feature that characterised the life of prominent anti-apartheid sports and political leader, Mr Norman Middleton, who passed away last Thursday, July 2, in Cape Town at the age of 94.

His funeral took place on Saturday, July 11 in Pietermaritzburg where he spent most of his teenage and adult life fighting the evils of apartheid in all sectors of life.

He was one of the strongest anti-apartheid leaders who kept alive the struggles for a free and non-racial society along with hundreds of other activists during the dark days of apartheid in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and until the dawn of the country's freedom in 1994.

I came into contact with Mr Middleton in the late 1960s when he was involved in the trade union movement and in non-racial soccer. At this time, I was a free-lance reporter for the Daily News, Durban edition of the old Golden City Post, the Mercury and the Sunday Tribune.

Our friendship grew stronger when I joined the Daily News as a full-time reporter in April 1973. At this time Middleton was also the president of the non-racial South African Soccer Federation and the non-racial South African Council of Sport (SACOS), which campaigned for the isolation of apartheid sport internationally.

Mr Middleton was also involved with the Labour Party, which under the leadership of Mr Sonny Leon and Alan Hendrickse, used the system to promote a non-racial and democratic South Africa for all South Africans.

Paging through my Daily News scrap books, I was amazed at the militant and uncompromising stance that Mr Middleton had adopted against the apartheid regime and the apartheid society in general despite the oppression and harassment at that time.

He took a firm stance against the passport "blackmail" in June 1974 when he was invited to address the world football body, FIFA, in Frankfurt in Germany. He and his fellow leaders in the SASF had earlier made representations to FIFA to expel the all-white Football Association of South Africa (FASA).

Mr Middleton was given a mandate by the SASF and SACOS to inform the FIFA meeting on June 11 1974 as to why FASA should be expelled.

He had applied for his passport in January 1974. But after being kept waiting for five months, the then Minister of Interior, Dr Connie Mulder, told Mr Middleton that he would only consider granting him a passport if he declared in writing that he would not do anything to deprive South African sportsmen and women from participating in international sport.

Mr Middleton's response was uncompromising when I spoke to him in an interview on June 3 1974. In an article under the headline: "Middleton says NO to passport 'blackmail'" in the Daily News on the same day, Mr Middleton was quoted as saying:

"I will never agree to such an undertaking. I made my application as an ordinary South African and as such should be given one.

"As far as I am aware no other person has been asked to make such an undertaking before."

As expected Dr Mulder refused to change his stance and Mr Middleton was denied the right to travel overseas.

 

Two years later Mr Middleton was again invited by FIFA to attend its congress in Montreal in Canada in July 1976. Once again the same Interior Minister, Dr Mulder, re-iterated his position that he would only grant Mr Middleton a passport if he gave a written undertaking not to harm South African sportsmen and women.

In a report under the headline, "Middleton refusal on passport" on May 13 1976, the dynamic Middleton was as robust as ever. He was quoted as saying:

"I want all South African sportsmen and women to enjoy international competition and not only the white sportsmen and women.

"I would not defend a system where South African sportsmen and women of colour are discriminated against at all levels of society.

"If I ever visit overseas countries I would tell them nothing but the truth as it exists in South Africa instead of the false propoganda that is being promoted overseas in regards to the sports policy of the country.

"If telling the truth is going to jeopardise the position of white sportsmen and women, then I believe this should be done - the sooner the better."

In October 1974 when India refused to meet South Africa in the Davis Cup final, Middleton came out in full support of the move and India's call for South Africa's expulsion from world tennis.

I spoke to him and we published his views in the Daily News on October 31 1974 under the headline: "India's refusal is a victory, says Middleton".

He was quoted as follows: "The ball is definitely in South Africa's court now. The longer the country takes to do away with discrimination in sport, the more we will suffer and be expelled from world sport.

"The black sportsmen and women have been pleading for change for far too long. We are now not going to plead but demand equal opportunities."

He went onto say:"The tennis world is fully aware that South Africa's participation in the Davis Cup has led to many problems. I am sure that India is doing the right thing by calling for South Africa's expulsion.

"South Africa does not presently enjoy the sympathy of world opinion and the black sportsmen in the country.

"The country must mend its ways if all sportsmen are to be reinstated in the world sporting arena."

And when the Australian Derrick Robins had organised a rebel tour to South Africa to break the isolation of the country in international cricket, Mr Middleton called on two of the black international cricketers in the team not to join the rebel tour.

The cricketers he appealed to were the former Pakistan test cricketer, Younis Ahmed, and the West Indian, John Shepherd.

The rebel tour was organised by Robins in the wake of the cancellation of England tour to South Africa in 1970 after the then Prime Minister, John Vorster, refused to allow former South African cricketer, Basil D'Oliviera, to accompany the English team.

 

We published his comments in an article under the headline: "Don't tour South Africa, Middleton tells Black cricketers" on October 9 1973.

He was quoted as saying: "We have told them they will be playing against segregated teams and before segregated spectators.

"We have also told them the South African Cricket Board of Control (non-racial) will have nothing to do with the tour.

"We told them they would be cutting across the ultimatum given by the MCC to South Africa that cricket relations between the two countries (England and South Africa) would only be resumed once non-racial cricket was started in the country."

Even as a leader of the Labour Party he had repeatedly told this correspondent that they were only participating in the then Coloured Representative Council(CRC) not to make it work but to destroy it. (The apartheid regime was using the CRC, the bantustans, the urban 'bantu' councils and the South African Indian Council(SAIC) at this time to deny full citizenship rights to all South Africans.)

 

This was clearly seen in an article under the headline: "We'll wreck 'useless' CRC, says Middleton" that the Daily News published on September 10 1976. It was at a time when school children all over the country were on the warpath against inferior and unequal education following the June 1976 uprisings by pupils in Soweto.

He was quoted as saying: "We have always maintained that the CRC is a useless institution and that we will carry out the people's mandate to wreck the council.

"One of our tactics to destroy the council is to take over the executive positions and use them according to our terms.

"The children have shown us the way and it is now more than ever that we must stand fully behind them."

Mr Middleton re-iterated his very strong anti-apartheid attitude when he addressed mass meetings all over the country over the next few years.

We at the Daily News reported on a meeting that he addressed at the Wentworth Community Hall in south Durban on June 7 1977. In an article under the headline: "Middleton says free detained leaders" on the following day, he was quoted as saying:

"The future of our country will never be determined without the participation of imprisoned, detained, banned and those leaders in exile. Unless the leaders on Robben Island and outside are allowed to take their rightful place in shaping the future there will be no peace in the country."

Mr Middleton also spoke out against the moves by the apartheid regime at that time to introduce the Newspaper Bill in order to control the print media.

This was highlighted in a report the Daily News published under the headline, "Newspaper bill will deprive us of the truth, says Middleton", on March 17 1977.

He was quoted as saying: "If this Bill goes through there will be absolutely no difference in the democracy of the Iron countries and South Africa.

"The terms of the proposed Press Bill are so wide and the details are so deliberately vague that newspaper editors will be forced to act within abominable constraints.

"The irony of it all is that this bill is being introduced in the name of freedom of the Press. I suppose it is the freedom of the Press to report what the government thinks fit and worthwhile."

While sticking to his hardline stance in politics and sport, Mr Middleton at the same time played an active role in the trade union movement as the Natal Organiser of the Engineering Industrial Workers Union, which was an affiliate of the Trade Union Council of South Africa (TUCSA). But his attempts to help organise African workers at the request of a prominent trade union leader at that time, Mr Barney Dladla, in the early 1970s led to him being dismissed by the Engineering Union.

He was given the boot because he allowed an African trade union temporary use of his union's offices in Pietermaritzburg. It was at a time when apartheid segregation was at its height but Mr Middleton chose not to toe the line.

In January 1981, after this correspondent was banned and house-arrested for three years, a colleague of mine from Germany visited me in Durban. We made arrangements to travel to Pietermaritzburg to meet various anti-apartheid activists, including Mr Middleton. I informed Mr Middleton that we will meet him at his office at 8:30am but couldn't make it on time as we had changed our itinerary to meet someone else at that time.

We called at Mr Middleton's office after lunch.

"Lucky you did not come in the morning, Subry. The security police were waiting for you here and was going to arrest you for breaking your banning orders."

It seemed clear that Mr Middleton's phones had been tapped and the security police was keeping a watch on him.

Before he became an active trade unionist and anti-apartheid sports and politican proponent, Mr Middleton, who was born in Sophiatown in Johannesburg in January 1921, started life as a shoe factory worker in Pietermaritzburg.

He was also s soldier during World War 11 in North Africa and Italy and was wounded by shrapnel in an air raid.

Mr Middleton only stepped aside as a prominent spokesperson on anti-apartheid sports and politics after the ANC and other organisations were unbanned and after Nelson Mandela was released in February 1990.

He joined the IFP and served as an MP in Cape Town after 1994.

(Non-racial sports administrators who attended his funeral service in Pietermaritzburg on July 11 2015)

His contributions towards the liberation struggles are a reminder of the kind of sacrifices made by anti-apartheid activists inside the country during the repressive years of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.

It's a sad commentary that the new regime had not given Mr Middleton any recoginition whatsoever after the advent of our new non-racial democracy. This is tragic and one just hopes that the right thing will be done now - even when he is no longer with us.  ends - ms/dbn