South Africa’s Resistance Press: Alternative Voices in the Last Generation under Apartheid

530 Pages·2000·2.144 MB·English

by  Les Switzer, Mohamed Adhikari

Political Science / Media Studies AFR 74
“O    researcher into the black press in southern
Les Switzer
Africa, Switzer has now crowned an illustrious career and a substan-
and
tial series of publications with this new representation of what would
Mohamed
otherwise have been largely a hidden history. He is joined by Mohamed
Adhikari,
Adhikari as co-editor, a scholar whose own work does justice to the
editors
standards set by Switzer. South Africa’s Resistance Presswill reward any
reader interested in the role of media in liberation struggles in general
and in understanding the ‘South African transformation miracle’ in
S
particular.” —Guy Berger, Rhodes University O
U
Tthe contributions of scores of newspapers, T
newsletters, and magazines that confronted the state in the generation H
after 1960. This marginalized press had an impact on its audience that
A
cannot be measured in terms of the small number of issues sold, the F
limited amount of advertising revenue raised, or the relative absence of R
effective marketing and distribution strategies. Instead, the journalists I
C SOUTH AFRICA’S RESISTANCE PRESS
achieved a much more far-reaching goal: by rendering visible communi-
A
ties that had often been invisible, they helped revive the mass movement ’
S
that finally brought an end to apartheid.

R
LSis a professor in the School ofCommunication and an adjunct pro- E
Alternative Voices
S
fessor in the Department of History at the University of Houston. He is the
I
author ofmany books and articles on South Africa, including South Africa’s Alter- S
native Press: Voices ofProtest and Resistance, 1880–1960. T
in the Last Generation
A
MAis a senior lecturer in the Department ofHistory at the Uni-
N
versity of Cape Town. His numerous publications include “Let Us Live for Our
C
Children”: The Teachers’ League ofSouth Africa, 1913–1940; James La Guma; and E under Apartheid
Straatpraatjes: Language, Politics and Popular Culture in Cape Town, 1909–1922.

P
R
OHIO UNIVERSITY E
S
S
Research in International Studies
Africa Series No. 74 Edited by Les Switzer and Mohamed Adhikari
ISBN 0-89680-213-2 OHIO Foreword by Guy Berger
,!7IA8J6-iacbdb!
South Africa’s
Resistance Press
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South Africa’s
Resistance Press
ALTERNATIVE VOICES
IN THE LAST GENERATION
UNDER APARTHEID
Edited by
Les Switzer and Mohamed Adhikari
Foreword by Guy Berger
Ohio University Center for International Studies
Research in International Studies
Africa Series No. 74
Athens
© 2000by the
Center for International Studies
Ohio University
Printed in the United States ofAmerica
All rights reserved
09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00 5 4 3 2 1
The books in the Ohio University Research in International Studies Series
are printed on acid-free paper (cid:1)∞™
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
South Africa’s resistance press : alternative voices in the last generation under
apartheid / edited by Les Switzer and Mohamed Adhikari.
p. cm. — (Research in international studies. Africa series ; no. 74)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-89680-213-2(pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Underground press—South Africa—History—20th century.
2. Journalism—Political aspects—South Africa. I. Switzer, Les.
II. Adhikari, Mohamed. III. Series.
PN5477.U53 S685 1999 00-040668
070.1'7'0968—dc21 CIP
To Mohamed Adhikari’s children, Rafiq and Zaheer,
and
To Les Switzer’s grandchildren, Nicholas and Alistair;
Garrett; Jessica and Kieran; Casey, Alexander and Tanner

Contents
List of Illustrations, ix
Foreword by Guy Berger, xi
Preface, xv
List of Abbreviations, xix
1. Introduction: South Africa’s
Resistance Press under Apartheid
Les Switzer, 1
Part I
In Transition: From Protest to Resistance
2. “Representing the Labouring Classes”: African Workers in
the African Nationalist Press, 1900‒1960
Peter Limb, 79
3. “Far from Dead”: The Final Years
of the Guardian,1960‒1963
James Zug, 128
4. Representing Blackness: Steve Biko and the
Black Consciousness Movement
Mbulelo Vizikhungo Mzamane and
David R. Howarth, 176
viii / Contents
Part II:
On the Barricades: The Struggle for South Africa
5. The Media of the United Democratic Front, 1983‒1991
Jeremy Seekings, 223
6. East Cape News Agencies: Reporting on a Black Hole
Franz Krüger, 260
7. Grassroots:From Washing Lines to Utopia
Ineke van Kessel, 283
8. “You Have the Right to Know”: South,1987‒1994
Mohamed Adhikari, 327
9. Ambiguities in Alternative Discourse:
New Nationand the Sowetanin the 1980s
Keyan G. Tomaselli, 378
10. Breaking the Mold of Political Subservience:
Vrye Weekbladand the Afrikaans Alternative Press
George Claassen, 404
11. The Weekly Mail,1985‒1994
Christopher Merrett and Christopher Saunders, 458
Notes on Contributors, 487
Index, 491
Illustrations
“Free the Press”booklet, depicting newspapers from South
Africa’s resistance press in the 1980s, 61
National Student,an intercampus newspaper banned
permanently in May 1979, 62
Inquiry issue, “Grahamstown: The Unsettled City,”
Rhodes University, 1980, 63
Ilizwi LaseRhini/Grahamstown Voice, 64
African World(1925‒26), subtitled
“Mouthpiece of the Cape Congress,”110
African Leader(1932‒33), 111
Pro-ANC Inkokeli ya Bantu(The Bantu Leader, 1940‒42), 112
Exile newspaper Workers’ Unity, 113
New Agefront page, June 1961, 158
First issue of Spark,6December 1962, 159
SASO Newsletterfront page, May/June 1972, 183
Graphic symbol of Black Power, SASO Bulletin,
June 1977, 184
ix