The World (South African newspaper)
Encyclopedia
The World, originally named The Bantu World, was the Johannesburg
black daily newspaper which published photographer Sam Nzima's iconic image of Hector Pieterson
, taken during the Soweto uprisings of June 16, 1976.
The Bantu Worlds first editor was Victor Selope-Thema, who served until 1952. The newspaper was the first in South Africa to place news rather than advertisements on the front page http://sowetan.co.za/public/info/history.html. A women's page was introduced in October 1932. The paper ran a beauty competition from November 1932 to March 1933 for which readers could vote http://www.uwc.ac.za/arts/gendervisuality/Lynn%20Thomas.doc. A favourite debate in the paper during the 1930s was what constituted the "African modern girl". Similar discussions of feminine beauty intended to attract female readers http://www.uwc.ac.za/arts/gendervisuality/Lynn%20Thomas.doc.
In June 1933 the Argus Printing Company (established 1889) took over Paver's company, Bantu Press Limited, and so the ownership of The Bantu World. Argus monopolized the black press through its 10 weekly papers http://www.southafrica.info/ess_info/sa_glance/constitution/971558.htm.
Under Dr. Jacob Nhlapo, editor from 1953 to 1957, the title was changed to The World http://www.joburg.org.za/march2002/sowetan.stm. During the 1950s The World focused on sex, soccer, and crime http://www.big.co.za/wordpress/2006/03/11/of-rags-and-riches/. After the death of Nhlapo in 1957, the newspaper was without an editor for a period. http://www.joburg.org.za/march2002/sowetan.stm.
The World merged with Ilanga lase Natal (Natal Sun) in 1935, under Selope-Thema's editorship. Ilanga lase Natal was a Zulu-language newspaper founded in 1903 by John Langalibalele Dube
in Durban. The staff of the combined newspaper included Herbert Isaac Ernest Dhlomo (1903-1956), Zulu educationist, author, poet, playwright, and former Librarian-Organiser of The Carnegie Non-European Library in Germiston, near Johannesburg. Dhlomo had worked at Ilanga lase Natal from 1941 http://www.worlib.org/vol03no2/everts_v03n2.shtml#6.
After the Sharpeville massacre, The World provided relatively non-political coverage until 1974. M. T. Moerane, editor from 1962-1973, admitted as much in his farewell speech. This was partly because the Argus company employed a white editorial director to curtail black editors. In similar fashion, Drum
(founded 1951), and Golden City Post (started in 1955), were also aimed at black readers yet had white editors http://www.southafrica.info/ess_info/sa_glance/constitution/971558.htm.
But the political climate in South Africa changed partly due to black Africans in Mozambique
winning their independence from Portugal in 1975 after a military struggle. The increasing political reportage of The World reflected this change http://www.doj.gov.za/trc/submit/inc.htm.
Tselito Percy Peter Qoboza (1938-1988) became editor in chief of The World in 1974. Qoboza had first joined the paper as a journalist in 1963, rising to news editor in 1967. He was arrested without being charged in June 1976 for 18 hours, for condemning the violent state reaction to the protests. The same happened again in March 1978, as part of the government's repression of 18 black organizations. This time Qoboza was released after six months due to international pressure on the South African government. He eventually left South Africa and lived in the United States until 1985, when he returned as editor of City Press, a black weekly newspaper http://www.freemedia.at/IPIReport/Heroes_IPIReport2.00/39Qoboza.htm.
Joseph (Joe) Latakgomo acted as editor while Qoboza was abroad, but had to submit to editorial director Charles Still http://www.doj.gov.za/trc/submit/inc.htm.
Masana Sam Nzima (1934-) began working as a full-time photojournalist for The World in 1968, after having done some freelance work for the paper before. After snapping his well-known picture of Pieterson, a friend in the police warned him that he was a target for the Security Branch of the police. He fled from his home in Chiawelo, Soweto
on the night of the warning to Lillydale, the village of his birth near Nelspruit
. There the Nelspruit security police kept Nzima under overt police surveillance for three months. In 1979 he became a member of the legislative assembly of the Gazankulu bantustan
, by invitation of Chief Minister Hudson Ntsanwisi. Nzima struggled for over 20 years before he was granted copyright for his photograph of young Pieterson. He runs a photography school in Bushbuck Ridge http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/people/bios/nzima-s.htm.
On February 24, 1976 The World reported that the defeat by Cuban and Angolan troops of South African defence force units operating in Angola had brought home the possibility of total liberation http://www.tricontinental.cubaweb.cu/REVISTA/texto20ingl.html.
The World and its weekend edition was banned by Minister of Justice Jimmy Kruger in 1977. Qoboza and The Worlds editorial staff were detained in Modderbee Prison in Benoni on October 19, 1977. One of the detainees was Aggrey Klaaste
(1940-2004), later editor of The Sowetan
. Klaaste suggested that one of the motivations for the closure of The World was that The Committee of Ten was formed in the newspaper's offices to help run Soweto after the 1976 protests http://www.doj.gov.za/trc/submit/inc.htm. Six of the newspapers' reporters disappeared in the late 1970s after being arrested by the police http://www.freemedia.at/IPIReport/Heroes_IPIReport2.00/39Qoboza.htm.
Former staff of The World like Latakgomo and Klaaste went on to work for Post Transvaal which the Argus company launched in 1978. When Post was closed down in 1980 after a strike, they migrated in 1981 to The Sowetan
, which is still published today http://www.doj.gov.za/trc/submit/inc.htm.
Microfilm copies of Ilanga lase Natal dating from 1903 to 1935 can be found at the African Studies Libray at the University of Cape Town http://www.lib.uct.ac.za/asl/info/newsasl.htm#I.
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
black daily newspaper which published photographer Sam Nzima's iconic image of Hector Pieterson
Hector Pieterson
Hector Pieterson became the subject of an iconic image of the 1976 Soweto uprising in South Africa when a news photograph by Sam Nzima of the dying Hector being carried by another student while his sister ran next to them, was published around the world. He was killed at the age of 12 when the...
, taken during the Soweto uprisings of June 16, 1976.
History
The Bantu World was founded in April 1932 for an intended audience of black middle-class elite by Bertram Paver, a white ex-farmer. Paver modeled The Bantu World after British tabloids. The newspaper had a national distribution, in contrast to the primarily local reach of previous black-owned papers. Half of the 38 shareholders were black Africans by the end of 1932. Each issue consisted of about 20 pages, of which 13 were written in English, and the rest in a variety of indigenous languages http://www.uwc.ac.za/arts/gendervisuality/Lynn%20Thomas.doc. The caption for an image from historian Luli Callinicos' Working Life (1987) suggests that The Bantu World operated out of the western Johannesburg suburb of Westdene.
The Bantu Worlds first editor was Victor Selope-Thema, who served until 1952. The newspaper was the first in South Africa to place news rather than advertisements on the front page http://sowetan.co.za/public/info/history.html. A women's page was introduced in October 1932. The paper ran a beauty competition from November 1932 to March 1933 for which readers could vote http://www.uwc.ac.za/arts/gendervisuality/Lynn%20Thomas.doc. A favourite debate in the paper during the 1930s was what constituted the "African modern girl". Similar discussions of feminine beauty intended to attract female readers http://www.uwc.ac.za/arts/gendervisuality/Lynn%20Thomas.doc.
In June 1933 the Argus Printing Company (established 1889) took over Paver's company, Bantu Press Limited, and so the ownership of The Bantu World. Argus monopolized the black press through its 10 weekly papers http://www.southafrica.info/ess_info/sa_glance/constitution/971558.htm.
Under Dr. Jacob Nhlapo, editor from 1953 to 1957, the title was changed to The World http://www.joburg.org.za/march2002/sowetan.stm. During the 1950s The World focused on sex, soccer, and crime http://www.big.co.za/wordpress/2006/03/11/of-rags-and-riches/. After the death of Nhlapo in 1957, the newspaper was without an editor for a period. http://www.joburg.org.za/march2002/sowetan.stm.
The World merged with Ilanga lase Natal (Natal Sun) in 1935, under Selope-Thema's editorship. Ilanga lase Natal was a Zulu-language newspaper founded in 1903 by John Langalibalele Dube
John Langalibalele Dube
John Langalibalele Dube was a South African essayist, philosopher, educator, politician, publisher, editor, novelist and poet. He was the founding president of the South African Native National Congress which became the African National Congress in 1923...
in Durban. The staff of the combined newspaper included Herbert Isaac Ernest Dhlomo (1903-1956), Zulu educationist, author, poet, playwright, and former Librarian-Organiser of The Carnegie Non-European Library in Germiston, near Johannesburg. Dhlomo had worked at Ilanga lase Natal from 1941 http://www.worlib.org/vol03no2/everts_v03n2.shtml#6.
After the Sharpeville massacre, The World provided relatively non-political coverage until 1974. M. T. Moerane, editor from 1962-1973, admitted as much in his farewell speech. This was partly because the Argus company employed a white editorial director to curtail black editors. In similar fashion, Drum
Drum (Magazine)
Drum is a South African family magazine mainly aimed at Black readers and contains market news, entertainment and feature articles. It has two sister magazines: Huisgenoot and YOU .In 2005 it was described as "the first black lifestyle magazine in Africa"—but it is...
(founded 1951), and Golden City Post (started in 1955), were also aimed at black readers yet had white editors http://www.southafrica.info/ess_info/sa_glance/constitution/971558.htm.
But the political climate in South Africa changed partly due to black Africans in Mozambique
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
winning their independence from Portugal in 1975 after a military struggle. The increasing political reportage of The World reflected this change http://www.doj.gov.za/trc/submit/inc.htm.
Tselito Percy Peter Qoboza (1938-1988) became editor in chief of The World in 1974. Qoboza had first joined the paper as a journalist in 1963, rising to news editor in 1967. He was arrested without being charged in June 1976 for 18 hours, for condemning the violent state reaction to the protests. The same happened again in March 1978, as part of the government's repression of 18 black organizations. This time Qoboza was released after six months due to international pressure on the South African government. He eventually left South Africa and lived in the United States until 1985, when he returned as editor of City Press, a black weekly newspaper http://www.freemedia.at/IPIReport/Heroes_IPIReport2.00/39Qoboza.htm.
Joseph (Joe) Latakgomo acted as editor while Qoboza was abroad, but had to submit to editorial director Charles Still http://www.doj.gov.za/trc/submit/inc.htm.
Masana Sam Nzima (1934-) began working as a full-time photojournalist for The World in 1968, after having done some freelance work for the paper before. After snapping his well-known picture of Pieterson, a friend in the police warned him that he was a target for the Security Branch of the police. He fled from his home in Chiawelo, Soweto
Soweto
Soweto is a lower-class-populated urban area of the city of Johannesburg in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for South Western Townships...
on the night of the warning to Lillydale, the village of his birth near Nelspruit
Nelspruit
Nelspruit is a city of more than 500,000 people situated in northeastern South Africa. It is the capital of the Mpumalanga province . Located on the Crocodile River, Nelspruit lies about west of the Mozambique border and east of Johannesburg. The towns of Nelspruit are Kanyamazane and Pienaar...
. There the Nelspruit security police kept Nzima under overt police surveillance for three months. In 1979 he became a member of the legislative assembly of the Gazankulu bantustan
Bantustan
A bantustan was a territory set aside for black inhabitants of South Africa and South West Africa , as part of the policy of apartheid...
, by invitation of Chief Minister Hudson Ntsanwisi. Nzima struggled for over 20 years before he was granted copyright for his photograph of young Pieterson. He runs a photography school in Bushbuck Ridge http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/people/bios/nzima-s.htm.
On February 24, 1976 The World reported that the defeat by Cuban and Angolan troops of South African defence force units operating in Angola had brought home the possibility of total liberation http://www.tricontinental.cubaweb.cu/REVISTA/texto20ingl.html.
The World and its weekend edition was banned by Minister of Justice Jimmy Kruger in 1977. Qoboza and The Worlds editorial staff were detained in Modderbee Prison in Benoni on October 19, 1977. One of the detainees was Aggrey Klaaste
Aggrey Klaaste
Aggrey Zola Klaaste was a South African newspaperjournalist and editor. He was best known for being editor of the Soweto-based newspaper, the Sowetan, from 1988 to 2002...
(1940-2004), later editor of The Sowetan
The Sowetan
The Sowetan is an English language, South African newspaper that started in 1981 as a liberation struggle newspaper and was freely distributed to households in the black township of Soweto, Johannesburg, Gauteng Province....
. Klaaste suggested that one of the motivations for the closure of The World was that The Committee of Ten was formed in the newspaper's offices to help run Soweto after the 1976 protests http://www.doj.gov.za/trc/submit/inc.htm. Six of the newspapers' reporters disappeared in the late 1970s after being arrested by the police http://www.freemedia.at/IPIReport/Heroes_IPIReport2.00/39Qoboza.htm.
Former staff of The World like Latakgomo and Klaaste went on to work for Post Transvaal which the Argus company launched in 1978. When Post was closed down in 1980 after a strike, they migrated in 1981 to The Sowetan
The Sowetan
The Sowetan is an English language, South African newspaper that started in 1981 as a liberation struggle newspaper and was freely distributed to households in the black township of Soweto, Johannesburg, Gauteng Province....
, which is still published today http://www.doj.gov.za/trc/submit/inc.htm.
See also
- Aggrey KlaasteAggrey KlaasteAggrey Zola Klaaste was a South African newspaperjournalist and editor. He was best known for being editor of the Soweto-based newspaper, the Sowetan, from 1988 to 2002...
- SowetoSowetoSoweto is a lower-class-populated urban area of the city of Johannesburg in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for South Western Townships...
- Soweto RiotsSoweto riotsThe Soweto Uprising, also known as June 16, was a series of high school student-led protests in South Africa that began on the morning of June 16, 1976. Students from numerous Sowetan schools began to protest in the streets of Soweto, in response to the introduction of Afrikaans as the medium of...
- The Bantu Men's Social CentreThe Bantu Men's Social CentreThe Bantu Men's Social Centre, founded in 1924 in Johannesburg, South Africa, played social, political, and cultural roles in the lives of black South Africans.- History :...
Note
- "Bantu" literally means "people." Because it was used extensively by state officials and in state departments overseeing the implementation of apartheid, "Bantu" achieved a pejorative value in South Africa, where it is seldom (if ever) used today. Originally the word referred to a system of related languages distributed throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, all of whom use "-ntu-" (as in abantu, umuntu).
External links
- How one photograph changed the world By Jerome Cartillier, Mail & Guardian, June 16, 2006.
- Richard Victor Selope Thema, 1886 - 1955
Additional resources
Microfilm copies of The Bantu World can be found in the following locations:- the Herbert Lehman Social Sciences Library at Columbia University has editions dating from April 1932
- the African Studies Library at the University of Cape Town has editions dating from 9 April to 28 December 1946 http://www.lib.uct.ac.za/asl/info/newsasl.htm#I.
Microfilm copies of Ilanga lase Natal dating from 1903 to 1935 can be found at the African Studies Libray at the University of Cape Town http://www.lib.uct.ac.za/asl/info/newsasl.htm#I.