Vusi Mbhele of the University of South Africa (UNISA) is the winner of the 2018 Patrick Hlahla bursary!

“The Patrick Hlahla bursary has breathed life back into my dreams. Amelia Earhart once said ‘some of us have great runways already built for us. If you have one, take off! But if you don’t have one, realise it is your responsibility to grab a shovel and build one for yourself and those who will follow after you’.

My late mother, who was a domestic assistant, and my father, a retired factory worker, could not afford to pay for my tertiary education. I had to do odd jobs helping out at a local tuck shop so I can raise money for registration. After enrolling, I was employed as a fruit and veg general assistant at a local supermarket earning R1600.00 a month which I used to get myself through first year of university.

I am currently in pursuit of a BA Honours in Media Studies. I was blessed with the Patrick Hlahla bursary from the National Press Club which was greatly needed in helping me continue building my runway so I can take OFF! Percy Qoboza started with nothing and created a wonderful life, I draw inspiration from his life’s work and achievements and if I can do the same for the ones that come after me then my destiny will be fulfilled. Thank you!”

Congratulations Vusi!

The 8th annual Percy Qoboza Memorial Lecture, organised by the National Press Club and UNISA, took place today in celebration of media freedom in South Africa.

The lecture is held annually in remembrance of 19 October 1977, when the apartheid government shut down The World and Weekend World newspapers. Over the years, it has become known as Black Wednesday.

Percy Tseliso Peter Qoboza was born on 17 January 1938 in Sophiatown before his family was forcibly removed by the apartheid government. In 1932, the newspaper Bantu World was established as an “opposition” newspaper. In 1962, Bantu World became The World, a significant voice in journalism until it was banned. Qoboza worked for the The World as a cadet reporter for five years and before becoming the news editor of the newspaper. In 1974, he was appointed as the editor.

In 1976, he was selected as South Africa’s Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. He was also the recipient of the Golden Pen Freedom Award from the International Publishers Association and the South African Society of Journalists’ Pringle Award.

The ruling party saw The World as its enemy and in December 1976, Qoboza was taken in for questioning about the newspaper’s reporting of the 16 June 1976 Soweto uprisings. He was released 18 hours later but was arrested again after a few months.

On 19 October 1977, Percy Qoboza, and colleague Aggrey Klaaste were arrested and sent to prison. The government shut down The World and The Weekend World newspapers. On the same day, eighteen black organisations were banned. Qoboza was in jail for six months without being formally charged and without a court hearing.

Following his release, Qoboza became editor of The Post. The Post and the Sunday Post were launched to replace the The World and The Weekend World. In 1980, these newspapers were closed by the government in Qoboza’s absence, as he was working in Washington for the Washington Star.

He returned to South Africa after nine months and worked as a public relations consultant until 1984 when he became the associate editor of the City Press. In 1985, he was appointed as the editor of the City Press, where he remained until his death on his 50th birthday in 1988.

Because of Qoboza’s passion for social justice and media freedom and with the upcoming elections in mind, the theme for this year’s lecture was: Politics and media freedom: Responsibility and Accountability to the South African Public.

The National Press Club and UNISA organised the the first Percy Qoboza Memorial Lecture in 2011. It was delivered by Professor Kobus van Rooyen. In 2012, Jay Naidoo delivered the lecture followed by Joe Thloloe in 2013. The lecture was delivered by Mondli Makhanya in 2014, Moshoeshoe Monare in 2015 and Kevin Ritchie in 2016. Last year, Qoboza’s son Vusi delivered the lecture.

This year’s lecture was delivered by Father Smangaliso Makhatswa, followed by a panel discussion with National Press Club exco member and Pretoria News news editor, Ntando Makhubu, President of the Public Relations Institute of Southern Africa, Malesela Maubane, and political analyst, Mpumelelo Mkhabela.

The National Press Club also awarded the annual Patrick Hlahla Bursary to a deserving UNISA Communications Science student. The late Patrick Hlahla was a respected member of the media, working at the Pretoria News, and a former chairperson of the National Press Club.

Tanya de Vente-Bijker is a freelance journalist and executive committee member of the National Press Club which honours Qoboza annually on October 19.

The 1970s were a turbulent time. Not an easy place for a journalist in South Africa. Reporters faced the possibility of being arrested, interrogated, assaulted, even tortured. Yet many bravely continued the fight for media freedom along with the bigger fight for freedom in South Africa.

It was during this time that Percy Qoboza, as a journalist and editor, was an example of one of those who fought relentlessly for media freedom.

Percy Tseliso Peter Qoboza was born on January 17, 1938, and grew up in Sophiatown. He was only 14 when his family was forcibly removed from their home in pouring rain. Qoboza was arrested under the pass laws, before travelling to Lesotho to study theology.

Media stalwart Joe Thloloe said Qoboza worked as a clerk for the Johannesburg municipality at the Jabavu office, and because of this position he saw what was going on and started working as a freelancer for The World. According to Thloloe, he submitted such good stories that he got a job as a cadet reporter.

Qoboza moved up the ranks to news editor and was appointed editor in 1974. The following year he was chosen as a Nieman Fellow and went to the US to study at Harvard.

Former editor Denis Pather recalls that it was during this time that Qoboza realised the extent of injustice in South Africa; his son Vusi said his father’s time in the US, where he was accepted as a black man, left him shaken.

He returned to South Africa angry and Pather said this played out in The World with Qoboza saying: “We are an angry newspaper.”

The ruling National Party saw the newspaper as an enemy of the state and in December 1976 Qoboza was taken in for questioning by the police after the newspaper’s reporting on the June 16 Soweto uprising.

Qoboza was released, only to be arrested again a few months later on October 19, 1977 (41 years ago today), according to Harvey Tyson in his book Editors under Fire. On this day – which came to be known as Black Wednesday – the government shut down The World and Weekend World and banned 18 black organisations.

Thloloe describes Qoboza as an “outstanding journalist” with a very good sense of news, and a man ahead of his time. Another journalist, Mandy de Waal, describes Qoboza as having “an unrelenting, subversive style (he) would strike out against tyrants or proponents of injustice with words that cut to the bone”. His column Percy’s Post gave a voice to the unspoken masses, and continued until his death.

Vusi said there were no grey areas for his father, who hated apartheid.

Vusi remembers him as loyal and comfortable in the company of kings and commoners. He kept an open door at home, and never turned anyone away, recalls daughter Ntuli.

Vusi said Qoboza helped activists leave the country and provided safe houses for them on their way to exile. He also kept in contact with them and ensured their families back home had food to eat.

In 1980 Qoboza went to the US as editor-in-residence for the Washington Star. Thloloe said Qoboza absconded from work to do this and when they questioned him about his move he replied in a telegram to say he had gone.

Vusi believes Qoboza’s career was bolstered by apartheid; exposing the brutality of the regime brought him the world’s attention. He wrote articles for publications including the New York Times. But Vusi also accepts that one could not imagine what his father might have become had it been a different time with different opportunities.

In addition to an honorary doctorate at Tufts University, Qoboza received an honorary doctorate from the Amherst College. The International Federation of Newspaper Proprietors awarded him the Golden Pen of Freedom.

Posthumously the South African government honoured him with the The Order of Ikhamanga in 2010.