KRISH MACKERDHUJ - ANOTHER ANTI-APARTHEID SPORTS LEADER WHO STOOD UP AGAINST RACIALISM

 

KRISH MACKERDHUJ - A STRUGGLE HERO WHO STOOD UP AGAINST RACISM IN SPORT AND SOCIETY IN GENERAL IN SOUTH AFRICA

 

 

 

BY SUBRY GOVENDER 

 

 

INTRO: At a time when South Africans are enjoying the full benefits of international sport, it’s appropriate to recall the struggles of our sporting administrators who made this possible. Veteran journalist - Subry Govender – contends in our ongoing series on Struggle Heroes and Heroines that the role played by non-racial sports administrators was a vital element in the broader struggles for the creation of a non-racial and democratic South Africa. One of the leaders was Krish Mackerdhuj, the former president of the non-racial South African Cricket Board, who passed on, on May 26 2004.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a period in the 1980s when white cricket at that time was feeling the full impact of the isolation of South African sport that Krish Mackerdhuj, who was president of the non-racial South African Cricket Board(SACB), came to the fore. He and his fellow anti-apartheid sports administrators were taken aback by moves by a former captain of the whites-only national cricket team, Ali Bacher, to lure the former West Indian cricket great, Clive Lloyd, to visit South Africa to intervene between white and non-racial cricket administrators. Bacher was the CEO of white cricket at this time and he was busy preparing rebel tours to break the international isolation of white cricket. This isolation was led by all the former colonised countries such as India, West Indies, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The other cricket-playing countries such as England, Australia and New Zealand only joined the boycott of South Africa at a later stage. Clive Lloyd, also a former captain of the great West Indies team, who was not fully aware of the socio-political-economic situation in South Africa, agreed to come to the country to speak to all cricket administrators. But Mackerdhuj and his fellow non-racial officials were totally opposed to Lloyd visiting South Africa at a time when the white minority was still in control of the country.

(Krish Mackerdhuj attending a workshop at the Sastri College Hall in Durban in the 1980s when the struggles against apartheid sport were at its height.) They had adopted the policy of “no normal sport in an abnormal country”, a vision of Mr Hassan Howa, who was president of the South African Cricket Board of Control (SACBC) in the late 1970s. The opposition by Mackerdhuj and his officials was fully supported by the South African Council of Sport(SACOS), the United Democratic Front(UDF), the South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee(SANROC), which was based in London; and the ANC in exile. I spoke to Mackerdhuj about their attitude to Clive Lloyd’s proposed visit. He outlined that they respected the West Indian great as a cricketer but they as South Africans knew when international isolation of South African sport should be lifted. This is what Mackerdhuj had told me in an interview at that time: “We have the utmost respect for Clive Lloyd as West Indies captain and his efficiency and ability in cricket. The system here would use him without any strings attached. They will go out of their way to use him and that’s why people like Ali Bacher jumped to issue an invitation to him. “By Lloyd coming here he would embarrass us. He must have nothing to do with them. Change must come from within the country. People who sit to talk must talk on an equal basis. There can’t be a master-slave relationship. There can’t be a privileged person sitting with an under-privileged person.” Mr Mackerdhuj, who in the early 1990s became the first president of the new United Cricket Board of South Africa, was just one of the hundreds of non-racial sports administrators who used sport to further the struggles for a non-racial, just and democratic new South Africa. The others included such luminaries as M N Pather, who was the secretary general of the non-racial tennis union and SACOS; Don Kali, who was involved in the tennis union; Mr Morgan Naidoo, who was leader of the non-racial swimming union; Mr Norman Middleton, who was leader of the non-racial South African Soccer Federation; Paul David, who was involved in the Natal Cricket Board and the Natal Council of Sport (NACOS)and Mr Hassan Howa.

(Krish Mackerdhuj with Nelson Mandela at a cricket match in the early days of the new South Africa.) 

 

 

 

There were others such as Mr Cassim Bassa, who was involved in table tennis, Mr Ramhori Lutchman, Dharam Ramlall, S K Chetty and Mr R K Naidoo of the South African Soccer Federation Professional League; and Mr Pat Naidoo and Harold Samuels of the Natal Cricket Board. Mr Mackerdhuj in that interview in the early 1980s expressed the views of his fellow anti-apartheid sports administrators when he had said that “normal sport” could only be played and enjoyed once the country’s people were also politically free. This is what he had told me: “You can’t have discrimination in some fields and no discrimination in others. This is our fight in sport. You can’t say there’s going to be no discrimination in sport and yet we have discrimination in other aspects of our lives. We have made it clear what we stand for, I don’t think the other side have made it clear what they stand for. “And these people you know recently came out with a declaration of intent and Ali Bacher was one of them. The Declaration was that they were preparing for non-racialism in sport. “We say the declaration of intent by any sane thinking person with interest in non-racial democracy in South Africa should be against detentions without trial, against the unjust laws in the country, against discriminatory education, against influx control, against the activities of the police and defence forces in the townships. That’s the kind of declaration that must come out of people who are interested in a future non-racial and democratic South Africa.” 

 

 

 

 

POLITICALLY CONSCIOUS 

 

Mackerdhuj, who was born in Durban in August 1939, had become politically-conscious after he matriculated at Sastri College and studied at Fort Hare University in the Eastern Cape for his BSC degree from 1958 to 1963. While at Fort Hare he joined the ANC but this open involvement was shattered when the ANC and PAC were banned in 1960. He told me that when he returned home in 1963 and joined Shell and BP as a technologist, he had decided to use sport to further the cause of the ANC in the struggles for a non-racial and democratic society. Although he was active in soccer and table tennis, he had decided to concentrate on cricket, both as a player and administrator. He joined the Crimson Cricket Club and thereafter promoted the cause of non-racial sport through the Durban and District Cricket Union, the Natal Cricket Board, the South African Cricket Board of Control and later the United Cricket Board(UCB). In the ongoing struggles for a non-racial and democratic society, he served the NCB as president for eight years from 1976-1984; president of SACBOC from 1984 to 1990; the South African Council of Sport(SACOS) since its inception in 1970s and the Natal Council of Sport (NACOS) as a founding member and president. In the struggles to isolate apartheid South Africa, Mackerdhuj, after being denied a passport on several occasions, travelled to London in 1987 to attend a meeting of the International Cricket Council(ICC). Here he campaigned successfully with the help of Sam Ramsamy of SANROC for South Africa to be banned from international cricket until apartheid was abolished and the disenfranchised people people in South Africa attained their political, social and economic freedom. 

 

MACKERDHUJ AT LORDS IN LONDON 

 

Mackerdhuj travelled to Lords in London again in 1989 to present a petition to the ICC against the rebel tour to South Africa by England’s Mike Gatting and his team. After the establishment of a united cricket body following the release of Nelson Mandela and the unbanning of the ANC in February 1990, Mackerdhuj served as deputy president of the UCB for one year from 1992 to 1993 and as president from 1993 to 1997. Mackerdhuj stepped down from the UCB in 1997 after he was appointed by President Nelson Mandela to serve as Ambassador to Japan. He served South Africa in this position for five years. During one of his visits back home at this period, I again interviewed Mackerdhuj while I was working as a senior political journalist at the SABC. 

 

"MY NEW ROLE AFTER FREEDOM" 

He had told me that throughout his life he had served the country and the ANC by campaigning for a non-racial democracy through the medium of sport. “I am now happy to serve my country in a new role after we have attained our freedom. We have a long road to travel because we have to continue to work in all spheres to promote a better life for all people. “We will have to be prepared to overcome many hurdles because the road ahead will not be easy.” In the new South Africa, Mackerdhuj was presented with a number of awards for his contributions to the struggles. These included the State President’s Award for Sports Administration by President Nelson Mandela in 1994; the Sports Administrator of the Year award in 1993 and 1994 by the Natal Sportswriters Guild; and life member of London’s Marleybone Cricket Club(MCC) in 1996. Mackerdhuj passed on, on the 26th of May 2004 at the age of 65. The role played by Mackerdhuj and others such as M N Pather, Morgan Naidoo, Hassan Howa and George Singh should not be forgotten. But, unfortunately, 23 years into our new non-racist society, the contributions by activists of the calibre of Mackerdhuj seems to have been trampled on by the return of racism in many disguised forms. What a shame? What a sad commentary of the state of affairs? Ends – subrygovender@gmail.com

 

DO WE CHERISH THE RICH LEGACY OF OUR INDENTURED ANCESTORS AND ARE WE LACKING LEADERSHIP TODAY IN THE NEW SOUTH AFRICA?

 

              (Sugar estate workers in Mt Edgecombe on the North Coast in the early days)

 ON NOVEMBER 16 2022, WE, AS SOUTH AFRICANS, WILL BE OBSERVING THE 162nd ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARRIVAL OF OUR INDENTURED ANCESTORS TO THE FORMER NATAL COLONY, WHICH WAS UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE THEN BRITISH EMPIRE.  

OVER THE PAST MORE THAN 16 DECADES, THE DESCENDANTS OF OUR ANCESTORS HAVE PROGRESSED TO MAKE SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTIONS IN THE SOCIAL, ECONOMICAL, EDUCATIONAL, RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL LIFE OF SOUTH AFRICA DESPITE THE DECADES OF OPPRESSION, DISCRIMINATION AND EXCLUSION.

THE FIRST BATCH OF OUR ANCESTORS LANDED IN THE THEN PORT OF DURBAN AS INDENTURED LABOURERS. THE FIRST GROUP OF PEOPLE ARRIVED FROM THE INDIAN CITY - THEN KNOWN AS MADRAS – (NOW CHENNAI) AND THEREAFTER FROM, MAINLY THE CITY KNOWN AS CALCUTTA - (TODAY KOLKATA).

THE INDENTURED LABOURERS WERE ALLOCATED TO VARIOUS SUGAR FARMERS AND ESTATES TO THE NORTH AND SOUTH OF THE THEN NATAL COLONY.

 

(Former indentured labourers with their children and grand-child at their home in Cato Manor)

SOME OF THE FAMOUS ESTATES THEY WORKED AS SEMI SLAVES WERE BLACKBURN, MOUNT EDGECOMBE, TRENANCE, CORNUBIA, NEW GUELDERLAND, AND HUNDREDS OF OTHER SUGAR ESTATES IN TONGAAT, VERULAM, STANGER, UMKOMAAS, ISIPINGO, UMZINTO AND PORT SHEPSTONE.

 

           BRUTAL AND HARSH CONDITIONS

 

DESPITE THE HARSH AND BRUTAL CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH THEY WERE FORCED TO LABOUR - THESE PIONEERS LAID THE FOUNDATION FOR SUCCEEDING GENERATIONS BY EMPHASING THE IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION, CULTURE, LANGUAGE, AND SOCIAL COHESION – (NOT COERCISION). THEY BUILT EDUCATIONAL, RELIGIOUS AND CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS WHERE EVER THEY FIRST TOILED AND THEREAFTER WHERE EVER THEY SETTLED.

 

             (A rich legacy inherited from     our indentured ancestors. This is a               temple in Johannesburg.)
                             

 

TODAY – 162 YEARS LATER - THROUGH THE SACRIFICES OF THE EARLY PIONEERS - WE ENJOY A FREE AND DEMOCRATIC COUNTRY - BEYOND THE IMAGINATION OF THE    EARLY INDENTURED LABOURERS.

 

BUT HOW MUCH DO WE REMEMBER OUR EARLY FOREFATHERS? ARE WE PROMOTING AND PROTECTING THE RICH HERITAGE THAT THEY HAD CREATED FOR US? OR ARE WE RAPIDLY SHOWING NO RESPECT AND REGARD FOR THE VERY RICH CULTURES AND TRADITIONS BESTOWED TO US?

 

ARE WE PROTECTING OUR RICH HISTORY, ARTEFACTS, CULTURES, TEMPLES, CHURCHES, MOSQUES AND TRADITIONS?

 

DESCENDANTS MAKE A COMMITMENT TO THE NEW SOUTH ADRICA

 

FURTHERMORE, AFTER THE DAWN OF OUR FREEDOM IN APRIL 1994, SOUTH AFRICANS OF INDIAN-ORIGIN PUT THEIR SHOULDERS TO THE WHEEL TO PROMOTE A SOCIETY WHERE EVERYONE ENJOYED FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT, FREEDOM OF SPEECH, FREEDOM OF DEVELOPMENT AND WHERE PEOPLE WOULD BE TREATED WITH EQUALITY, RESPECT AND DIGNITY.

BUT TODAY, 28 YEARS INTO OUR NEW SOUTH AFRICA, MANY PEOPLE HAVE TAKEN A BACK SEAT AND HAVE WITHDRAWN FROM THE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE COUNTRY.

 

“FREE BUT NOT FREE” DUE TO THE HIGH RATE OF VIOLENT CRIME

 

 

THE PEOPLE HAVE STATED THAT THEY NO LONGER FEEL FREE IN A FREE AND DEMOCRATIC SOUTH AFRICA BECAUSE OF THE HIGH RATE OF VIOLENT CRIME AND THE LACK OF COMMITMENT BY RULING POLITICIANS, POLICE PERSONELL AND GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS TO CREATE A CONDUCIVE ENVIRONMENT AND PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL THE PEOPLE.

 

BUT, DESPITE ALL THE SETBACKS AND THE CORRUPTION AND BRIBERY THAT GO WITH IT, SOUTH AFRICA IS STILL SEEN AS ONE OF THE BEST COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD.

 

DR IMTIAZ SOOLIMAN AND GIFT OF GIVERS

(Dr Imtiaz Sooliman)

 

WE SHOULD FOLLOW THE LEAD OF THE CHAIRPERSON AND FOUNDER OF THE GIFT OF THE GIVERS, DR IMTIAZ SOOLIMAN, WHO HAS REPEATEDLY STATED IN A NUMBER OF PUBLIC ADDRESSES AT VARIOUS FUNCTIONS RECENTLY THAT WE HAVE THE POWER TO DEVELOP AND CREATE A BETTER COUNTRY FOR ALL THE PEOPLE OF SOUTH AFRICA.

HE HAS STATED THAT ALL SOUTH AFRICANS MUST WORK TOGETHER TO BUILD A NEW COUNTRY AND FOR BUSINESS PEOPLE TO LEND A MAJOR HAND IN IMPROVING THE INFRASTRUCTURE AND PERSONNEL IN ALL FIELDS OF LIFE SUCH AS EDUCATION, HEALTH, TRANSPORT.

 

SO, WHILE WE OBSERVE AND CELEBRATE THE LIVES OF OUR INDENTURED ANCESTORS, LET US AT THE SAME TIME COMMIT OURSELVES TO DEVELOPING, AS DR SOOLIMAN SAYS, A SOCIETY FOR ALLTHE PEOPLE.

POVERTY, UNEMPLOYMENT, INEQUALITY AND UNDER-DEVELOPMENT CANNOT CONTINUE IN A COUNTRY AS RICH AS SOUTH AFRICA.

LACK OF PROGRESSIVE LEADERS

 

WE NEED MORE LEADERS OF THE CALIBRE OF DR SOOLIMAN TO COME FORWARD AND RAISE ISSUES OF CONCERN TO ALL SOUTH AFRICANS. THEY ARE URGENTLY NEEDED TO GIVE HOPE AND ENCOURAGEMENT TO THE POOR, DISADVANTAGED AND THOSE ON THE MARGINS OF SOCIETY WHO SAY THERE ARE NO LEADERS TO REPRESENT AND TO RAISE THEIR CONCERNS IN THE NEW NON-RACIAL AND DEMOCRATIC SOUTH AFRICA.

IN THE YEARS LEADING TO THE NEW SOUTH AFRICA IN APRIL 1994, THEY HAD ORGANISATIONS SUCH AS THE UNITED DEMOCRATIC FRONT (UDF) AND THE NATAL INDIAN CONGRESS (NIC) TO TAKE UP SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL ISSUES OF CONCERN. UNFORTUNATELY, THESE PROGRESSIVE ORGANISATIONS WERE CALLED UPON TO DISBAND BECAUSE THE ANC WOULD REPRESENT THEM IN THE NEW SOUTH AFRICA. ALTHOUGH FREEDOM ICON, NELSON MANDELA, AND LEADERS OF THE CALIBRE OF PROF FATIMA MEER WERE OPPOSED TO THE DISBANDING OF THE NIC, OTHER ELEMENTS INSISTED THERE WAS NO NEED FOR ORGANISATIONS SUCH AS THE NIC TO REMAIN IN THE NEW SOUTH AFRICA.

(Prof Fatima Meer with veterans of the struggles,  - her husband, Ismail, Dr Monty Naicker, M N Pather and George Singh)

BUT MANDELA WAS OF THE VIEW THAT THE NIC WAS AN HISTORICAL ORGANISATION AND IT SHOULD REMAIN. HE MADE IT CLEAR THAT THE NIC WOULD WORK WITH PROGRESSIVE ORGANISATIONS TO PROMOTE THE SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE COUNTRY.

PROF MEER, FOR HER PART, WAS OF THE VIEW THAT ALTHOUGH THE ANC WOULD REPRESENT ALL PEOPLE, THE NIC WOULD BE THE HISTORICAL ORGANISATION TO REPRESENT THE MASSES WITHIN THE PEOPLE OF INDIAN ORIGIN.

IT SEEMS BOTH MANDELA AND MEER WERE ON THE POINT REGARDING THE NIC AND THE UDF BECAUSE TODAY THE PEOPLE FIND THEMSELVES LEADERLESS, LOST AND FORGOTTEN. THE PEOPLE DON’T REGARD THE ANC OF TODAY AS PROMOTING THE VALUES AND PRINCIPLES OF THE MANDELAS, WALTER SISULUS, GOVAN MBEKIS, AHMED KATHRADAS AND SCORES OF OTHERS. RACE, RACISM, AND PROMOTION OF RACIAL HATRED AND GENOCIDE HAVE BECOME THE NORM AMONG SOME OF THE POLITICIANS. ENDS – subrygovender@gmail.com  November 16 2022

THE ASSASSINATION THREAT AGAINST STAR EDITOR BY A RULING PARTY POLITICIAN REMINDS US OF THE STRUGGLES OF JOURNALISTS DURING THE APARTHEID ERA

 

 

(Zwelike Sisulu and Juby Mayet leading a protest march in Johannesburg against the banning of the UBJ in 1977)

INTRO: The alleged assassination threat by ANC MP Boy Mambolo against the Editor of the Star newspaper, Sifiso Mahlangu, (Mercury Nov 8 2022), highlights the plight of journalists who are fully committed to the freedom of the Press and freedom of the society in our new post-apartheid and democratic society.  Mahlangu’s situation merely reminds us that some of the political leaders and political parties today are no different to those of the past who used all kinds of violence, intimidation and harassment to silence journalists who stood their ground against apartheid and minority rule. Mahlangu is following in the footsteps of his predecessors during the apartheid era who sacrificed almost everything for the freedom of the media. In order to honour Mahlangu for his efforts for the freedom of the media, I would like to remind South Africans in the following article of the journalists who fought for the freedom of Press especially during the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s.

 

 

 

THE ASSASSINATION THREAT AGAINST STAR EDITOR BY A RULING PARTY POLITICIAN REMINDS US OF THE STRUGGLES OF JOURNALISTS DURING THE APARTHEID ERA

 

                                            (Joe Thloloe)

By Subry Govender

 

When we take a moment or two at this time to observe the situation of the Editor of the Star, Sifiso Mahlangu, it’s crucial to recall the enormous sacrifices and contributions of journalists during the apartheid era in the struggles for a free, non-racial and democratic South Africa.

 I am not going to go back in history but deal primarily with the period when the then National Party introduced all kinds of laws to suppress, oppress, harass and intimidate journalists – especially journalists of colour.

  (Philip Mthimkulu)
                                      

(Juby Mayet)            

Being colonial and racially 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.

Nearly all newspapers were white owned, controlled, managed and edited – 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).

(Leslie Xinwa)

(Duma Ndlovu)

                                              (Isaac Moroe)

(Nat Serache)

 (Rashid Seria)

                                      (Mathatha Tseudu)

 

The apartheid regime, especially under the leadership of John Vorster, Hendrik Verwoerd and P W Botha, 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 69 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.

 (Matyeu Nonyane, Rashid Seria, Leslie Xinwa and Isaac Moroe)

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 in the 1980s who dared to question the white status quo – but they too were quickly intimidated and forced to flee the country or tone down.

(Mona Badela and Enoch Duma)

In the early 1970s – when the black consciousness movement took root after the establishment of the South African Students Organisation (SAS0) – a number of  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 majority. The struggle for freedom of the Press and the liberty of the people had just started in earnest once again.

But no sooner had  journalists – with a black consciousness background – begun to tackle real and fundamental issues affecting the majority, the apartheid system struck back with a vengeance in 1974 when they banned a Frelimo rally scheduled to be held at Durban’s Currie’s Fountain and prohibited any newspaper coverage of the event.

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 charged and sentenced to Robben Island.

(Journalists standing up for Media Freedom in the 1970s and 1980s)

Further onslaughts against the media began after the 1976 Soweto uprisings. Two months after the uprisings, nine 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.

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.

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 held incommunicado for 547 days under Section 6 of the Terrorism Act.

 

(Rashid Seria, Mike Norton and Juby Mayet at a UBJ meeting in Durban in 1977)

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 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; Bularo Diphoto, a freelance journalist in the town of Kroonstad who was also detained under Section 6 of the Terrorism Act; and Mateu Nonyane.

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 darkest day in the history of Press Freedom took place on October 19 1977 when the notorious apartheid Minister of Police, Jimmy Kruger, banned the only two newspapers respected among people – the World and Weekend World.

(Charles Nqakula, Subry Govender and Philip Mthimkulu)

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 raided the offices of the Press Trust of South Africa (PTSA) alternative news agency in Durban and confiscated all its stationery and equipment and seized its funds.

Six other journalists were also detained at this time – including Thenjiwe Mntintso, who became an ANC functionary after 1994 and appointed as an ambassador; 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.

 

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 on my door and saying in our Tamil mother tongue: “Some white people are here asking for you.”

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. 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  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 Quraish Patel – were detained without trial for more than three months.

On November 30 1977, the day white South Africa went to the polls to give John Vorster another mandate to continue to oppress the majority, 29  journalists, including Zwelakhe Sisulu and Ms Juby Mayet, 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 1977 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 PE. 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 terrorists” who should be taken out of society.

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  majority. The establishment media of that era, as you have already been informed, was aimed at protecting and promoting the privileges of the 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 mainstream media and the National Party-controlled SABC.

But resistance led to more repression. In June 1980 when school children all over the country boycotted classes against the unequal and inferior education system for children of the majority, the security police once again targeted journalists. They detained many of us for lengthy periods, claiming that the journalists had been encouraging the 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.

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, Mathatha Tsedu 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 Umthonyama 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.

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.

When our banning orders expired, most of us continued where we had left off. 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.

The apartheid regime began another round of repression and during the respective states of emergency, media repression reached a peak. It was a time when the discredited tri-cameral system was in place and the United Democratic Front had captured the imagination of oppressed South Africans.

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 – the dreaded security police at that time raided all the alternative newspapers and intimidated the journalists.
The New Nation and the Weekly Mail – two alternative newspapers in Johannesburg – were banned several times from 1986 to 1990.

When peace negotiations began, there was some respite for journalists and the media.

The stand-point taken by Sifiso Mahlangu, Editor of State, is a reminder once again to journalists of today that they must recapture the struggles of the journalists of the era prior to 1994 and commit themselves to promoting media freedom in our new, non-racial and democratic order.

The new era journalists must be on guard all the time. They must remember that 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 that struggle journalists had done for their freedom and how it was important that media practitioners 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.

What Mandela was saying was that journalists must keep a check on politicians who try to harass, intimidate and use violence in order to curb the freedom of the Press in our new non-racial, democratic and free South Africa. Ends – subrygovender@gmail.com Nov 9 2022