Thursday, April 9, 2020
ANTI-APARTHEID LEADER - MEWA RAMGOBIN - WHO WAS PART OF THE GROUP WHO INITIATED THE REVIVAL OF THE NATAL INDIAN CONGRESS IN 1971 - TALKS IN 2008 ABOUT WHETHER THERE WAS A NEED FOR A FORUM FOR THE PEOPLENEED
BLOODY INTERNECINE POLITICAL VIOLENCE IN KWAZULU-NATAL IN THE 1980s AND EARLY 1990s A TRAGIC PERIOD IN OUR HISTORY
SOWETO UPRISINGS A RADIO DOCUMENTARY PUBLISHED ON THE 32 ANNIVERSARY OF THE 1976 SOWETO UPRISINGS IN JUNE 2008
Wednesday, April 8, 2020
ROLE OF INDIAN-ORIGIN PEOPLE IN THE FREEDOM STRUGGLES IN SOUTH AFRICA IS BEYOND QUESTION. A RADIO DOCUMENTARY BY SUBRY GOVENDER
Monday, April 6, 2020
THE MEDIA DURING THE APARTHEID ERA : PAPER DELIVERED TO STUDENTS AT THE M L SULTAN JOURNALISM DEPARTMENT IN DURBAN ON APRIL 22 1996
Before I get into details of this topic, I want to submit that I am presenting this paper merely as a journalist who has been around for the past 30 years and whatever I tell you today will be my own experiences during the days of apartheid and white minority rule and domination.
Firstly, let me say very little has changed today in the media world even though we are two years into the new South Africa.
I don’t what period you understand that comprised the apartheid era.
As far as I am concerned – 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 deal primarily with the period when the National Party introduced all kinds of laws to suppress, oppress, harass and intimidate journalists – especially journalists of colour.
Being white, 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.
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 today tries to sell to the people of Indian-origin, coloured people and Africans – had in their arsenal more than 100 statutes that limited the freedom of the Press.
The repressive atmosphere really began after the Sharpeville uprisings of March 21 1960 when police shot and killed 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 in the 1960s who dared to question the white status quo – but they too were quickly intimidated and forced to flee the country or tone down.
In the early 1970s – when the black consciousness movement took root after the establishment of the South African Students Organisation (SASO) – 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 Despatch, 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 the freedom of Press and the liberty of the people had just begun in earnest once again.
But no sooner had black journalists – with a black consciousness background – began to tackle reacl and fundamental issues affecting the people – the system struck back with a 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. I was at this time with the Daily News, which was situated at 85 Field Street, and assigned to cover the event. I was not only detained and interrogated but my editor, Mr O’Mally, was charged for publishing the news item.
Another colleague, Joan Dobson, skipped the country and fled into exile because the apartheid authorities suspected she was in league with the organisers of the rally. She now reports from Harare in Zimbabwe for the SABC’s AM and PM lives programmes. As a matter of interest, people like Strini Moodley, Saths Cooper, Aubrey Mokoape and others were charged under the Terrorism Act for organising the rally and sentenced to Robben Island.
(Photo Sam Nzima)
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 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 at that time was working for the World newspaper; Peter Magubane, South Africa’s world-famous photo-journalist who worked for the Rand Daily Mail and Miss Thenjiwe Mntintso – who worked at the Daily Despatch in East London.
(JOE THLOLOE)
(THENJIWE MNTINTSO)
The majority of the journalists were held for about four months without being tried in a court of law. They were released at the end of December 1976 but were re-arrested in 1977. Joe Thloloe was one of those re-arrested and he was held incommunicado for 547 days 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 leave me cold” – at the same time banned the Union of Black Journalists (UBJ) and 17 other organisations; the UBJ publication, AZIZTHULA, religious and student publications; locked up the editor and news editor of the World and Weekend World – Percy Qoboza and Aggrey Klaaste respectively; and banned for five years the Editor of the Daily Despatch, Donald Woods. The state also banned Mr Qoboza for five years.
The state also confiscated all our stationary and equipment and seized the funds of the UBJ.
Six other journalists were also detained at this time – including Miss Tenjiwe Mntintso – who is now a member of the ANC in parliament; and Enoch Duma – who worked for the Star newspaper at that time. He fled into exile after being released after being detained for more than two years.
Almost every member of the UBJ was visited by the security police all over the country; their houses and offices raided and searched and they being interrogated about their “terrorist activities”.
I remember my mother knocking my door at our outbuilding at 30 Mimosa Road, Lotusville, Verulam, north of Durban. Speaking in our Tamil language, she said in a concerned voice: “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 did not post that letter but I did not tell the security police that. I had written that letter because India at that time was leading the international struggle against white 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. 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 Nkademing 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 reporters – Wiseman Khuzwayo and Quarish Patel – were detained without trial for three months.
On November 30 1977 – the day white South Africans went to the polls to give John Vorster another mandate to continue to oppress the black majority – 29 black journalists 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.
(ZWELAKHE SISULU AND JUBY MAYET LEADING THE PROTEST MARCH AFTER THE BANNING OF THE UBJ IN OCTOBER 1977)
Some of our colleagues who found it impossible to work in South Africa skipped the country under trying conditions. They included Duma Ndlovu, Nat Serache, Boy Matthews Nonyang and Wiseman Khuzwayo.
Those who remained – including Juby Mayet, Zwelakhe Sisulu, Philip Mthimkulu, Joe Thloloe, Charkes Nqakula, Rashid Seria, and many others – vowed to continue the struggles. 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 state 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 charter our future course of action – the state banned our gathering and prohibited us from travelling to the Eastern Cape city. But we were not deterred.
We quickly re-scheduled our meeting to be held in the town of Verulam, north of Durban. Unknown to us the security police tapped our telephone conversations and had the Star-lite 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 newspaper 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 – as you already know – 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 state 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 – who is now the Chief Executive of the SABC – 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 first 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, Subry Govender, and also Zwelakhe Sisulu, Joe Thloloe, Philip Mthimkulu, Juby Mayet and Charles Nqakula in December 1980.
This was a massive blow for the alternative media because all the journalists were fully involved in various projects around the country. Some of the projects 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 (SACC) also sponsored the publication of the newspaper called, The Voice. Philip Mthimkulu and Juby Mayet worked for this newspaper before they were banned.
The journalists 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 SA Third World 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 I - even met in Johannesburg under secrecy to discuss the establishment of alternative newspapers once our banning orders expired.
(CHARLES NQAKULA)
During this period Charles Nqakula skipped the country to join the ANC. He is now a member of Parliament and secretary general of the SACP.
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 publications.
In Durban, we continued with the Press Trust of South Africa 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 even supplied information to the Tass News Agency that had a base in Zimbabwe after that country’s independence in 1980.
Some of the radio stations we supplied reports to included the BBC Africa Service, 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.
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 measures to suppress journalists. At this time the state had introduced the tri-cameral (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 state 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 1986 and 1987 – every time there was a knock on our door at the PTSA News Agency – we lifted our heads to check whether it was the security police.
One one occasion more than 10 security policemen raided our office situated at that time in Protea House in West Street 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 the national intelligence offices.
The period of sustained security police intimidation and harassment we experienced was just an example of what other alternative media organisations and individuals encountered around the country.
All of us were denied passports to travel overseas – the state 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 give respite was after the ANC, PAC, SACP and other organisations were unbanned in 1990.
Today, two years after the election of a democratic government, the Press is largely free and there is a great deal of freedom of expression and freedom of speech. But has the media changed fundamentally? To this question, I would submit that not much has changed.
Yes, we are not persecuted and we are allowed to operate freely. But those controlling the establishment media are still in place.
The Argus Group may have changed ownership and blacks may have been appointed as editors and news editors but journalists in these newspapers still feel uncomfortable. The news is still directed at the former white establishment and many of the white journalists have also not changed their attitudes.
For instance – when President Nelson Mandela during the rugby world cup last year said he would like to see the Springbok emblem remain for rugby, the white establishment journalists used the statement as manna from heaven to campaign for the retention of the Springbok emblem. They continued to do this even when the National Sports Council had recommended that the Springbok emblem should be done away with because of its dirty past.
In another instance – the Sunday Tribune in Durban recently published a photograph of a white cricketer and called him a Springbok cricketer. This is a subtle move by white establishment newspapers and journalists to get the Springbok emblem retained for all sport. They are not concerned about the fact that the Springbok emblem represented the denial of sporting opportunities to the black majority.
All they are concerned about is retaining their power and privileges. Sadly one or two black journalists who have joined the establishment are behaving as if the struggles for social, sporting, economic and political rights have ended with the election of President Mandela and a new government.
You take any newspaper today and what do you find: The news is primarily about the former white establishment.
The news about blacks more often than not is about violence and other news that impact negatively on the black community.
I hold no brief for Mrs Winnie Mandela – but just look at the manner in which the white establishment media has castigated and almost destroyed her. With all her faults she is still a threat to the white establishment and it is, therefore, no surprise that the establishment media want her out of the way.
There are many other instances of the white media adopting an antagnostic attitude to anyone trying to bring about fundamental changes.
Unless and until the newspapers are radically re-structured, I believe that the gains the black majority have made since 1994 will be under constant threat at the hands of the white establishment media.
The kind of fundamental re-structuring I would like to see are not only the appointment of black editors and journalists but the appointment of those who are committed to the social re-structuring of South African society. There must also be significant changes to the ownership structure of the print media.
In so far as the SABC is concerned, I have to sadly state that very little has changed here as well. We have Zwelakhe Sisulu, Govin Reddy, and a few others but nothing else. Most of the middle-management jobs are still occupied by people still owing loyalty to the former establishment and, therefore, fundamental aspects relating to collection and dissemination of news is still directed at and for the white community.
Those blacks who have been appointed to middle-management jobs are either those who have been with the SABC during the days of apartheid or those who are not prepared to take decisions to fundamentally transform the collection and dissemination of news. Very little attention is being given to the fact that South Africa is not exclusively the urban areas of the country. The rural areas and the aspirations and desires of the rural folk are being sadly neglected by the SABC.
The question that many journalists are asking: How can the SABC reflect the true aspirations and feelings of the majority of the people when the main decision-making positions are held by people who are hostile to the changed political situation in the country. Most of the middle-management people still in their positions have been appointees of the former National Party and many people believe that there is still a “broederbond” operating within the SABC.
I hope my talk would have given you a glimpse of the situation that existed for a period of 20 years from 1970 to 1990 and the struggle that still lay ahead for the radical and fundamental transformation of the print and broadcast media.
Ends –
Marimuthu Subramoney (aka Subry Govender)
Paper presented to students at the M L Sultan Journalism Department in Durban on April 22 1996
Saturday, April 4, 2020
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE PRESS TRUST OF SOUTH AFRICA NEWS AGENCY IN 1980
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