[intro]In the 70s the inhuman system of white domination was becoming increasingly brutal. Resistance to apartheid was on the increase and the racist regime responded with an iron fist. Many journalists took a stand and paid a heavy price, as Subry Govender recalls.[/intro]
When we take a moment or two at this time to observe the 39th anniversary of the Soweto uprisings of June 16 1976, it’s crucial to recall the enormous sacrifices and contributions of black journalists in the struggles for a free, non-racial and democratic South Africa.
The picture captured by photographer, Sam Nzima, of the murdered 13-year-old Hector Pieterson being carried by a friend was splashed on the front pages of newspapers in South Africa and around the world.
Nzima and other journalists went beyond the limits of their calling despite the oppressive attempts and actions by the then apartheid regime to suppress the media.
Before I go into the meat of the topic, I want to submit that suppression of the media started in the colonial period, long before aparhtheid.
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 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).
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.
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.
In the early 1970s – when the black consciousness movement took root after the establishment of the South African Students Organisation (SAS0) – 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 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 black 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 black 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.
Further onslaughts against the media began after the 1976 Soweto uprisings. Two months after the uprisings, nine black 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.
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 black 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 black people – the World and Weekend World.
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 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 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 black majority, 29 black 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 black majority. The white establishment media of that era, as you have already been informed, 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 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 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 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 39th anniversary of the Soweto uprisings is an occasion once again when journalists of today 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 on 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 introduce new laws under devious means to curb the freedom of the Press.
Whether you believe in God or not, this is a must-read message!!!
Throughout time, we can see how we have been slowly conditioned to come to this point where we are on the verge of a cashless society. Did you know that the Bible foretold of this event almost 2,000 years ago?
In Revelation 13:16-18, we read,
“He (the false prophet who decieves many by his miracles) causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.”
Referring to the last generation, this could only be speaking of a cashless society. Why? Revelation 13:17 tells us that we cannot buy or sell unless we receive the mark of the beast. If physical money was still in use, we could buy or sell with one another without receiving the mark. This would contradict scripture that states we need the mark to buy or sell!
These verses could not be referring to something purely spiritual as scripture references two physical locations (our right hand or forehead) stating the mark will be on one “OR” the other. If this mark was purely spiritual, it would indicate only in one place.
This is where it really starts to come together. It is shocking how accurate the Bible is concerning the implatnable RFID microchip. These are notes from a man named Carl Sanders who worked with a team of engineers to help develop this RFID chip
“Carl Sanders sat in seventeen New World Order meetings with heads-of-state officials such as Henry Kissinger and Bob Gates of the C.I.A. to discuss plans on how to bring about this one-world system. The government commissioned Carl Sanders to design a microchip for identifying and controlling the peoples of the world—a microchip that could be inserted under the skin with a hypodermic needle (a quick, convenient method that would be gradually accepted by society).
Carl Sanders, with a team of engineers behind him, with U.S. grant monies supplied by tax dollars, took on this project and designed a microchip that is powered by a lithium battery, rechargeable through the temperature changes in our skin. Without the knowledge of the Bible (Brother Sanders was not a Christian at the time), these engineers spent one-and-a-half-million dollars doing research on the best and most convenient place to have the microchip inserted.
Guess what? These researchers found that the forehead and the back of the hand (the two places the Bible says the mark will go) are not just the most convenient places, but are also the only viable places for rapid, consistent temperature changes in the skin to recharge the lithium battery. The microchip is approximately seven millimeters in length, .75 millimeters in diameter, about the size of a grain of rice. It is capable of storing pages upon pages of information about you. All your general history, work history, crime record, health history, and financial data can be stored on this chip.
Brother Sanders believes that this microchip, which he regretfully helped design, is the “mark” spoken about in Revelation 13:16–18. The original Greek word for “mark” is “charagma,” which means a “scratch or etching.” It is also interesting to note that the number 666 is actually a word in the original Greek. The word is “chi xi stigma,” with the last part, “stigma,” also meaning “to stick or prick.” Carl believes this is referring to a hypodermic needle when they poke into the skin to inject the microchip.”
Mr. Sanders asked a doctor what would happen if the lithium contained within the RFID microchip leaked into the body. The doctor replied by saying a terrible sore would appear in that location. This is what the book of Revelation says:
“And the first (angel) went, and poured out his vial on the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore on the men which had the mark of the beast, and on them which worshipped his image” (Revelation 16:2).
You can read more about it here–and to also understand the mystery behind the number 666: https://2ruth.org/rfid-mark-of-the-beast-666-revealed/
The third angel’s warning in Revelation 14:9-11 states,
“Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, ‘If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.'”
Who is Barack Obama, and why is he still in the public scene?
So what’s in the name? The meaning of someone’s name can say a lot about a person. God throughout history has given names to people that have a specific meaning tied to their lives. How about the name Barack Obama? Let us take a look at what may be hiding beneath the surface.
Jesus says in Luke 10:18, “…I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”
The Hebrew Strongs word (H1299) for “lightning”: “bârâq” (baw-rawk)
In Isaiah chapter 14, verse 14, we read about Lucifer (Satan) saying in his heart:
“I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.”
In the verses in Isaiah that refer directly to Lucifer, several times it mentions him falling from the heights or the heavens. The Hebrew word for the heights or heavens used here is Hebrew Strongs 1116: “bamah”–Pronounced (bam-maw’)
In Hebrew, the letter “Waw” or “Vav” is often transliterated as a “U” or “O,” and it is primarily used as a conjunction to join concepts together. So to join in Hebrew poetry the concept of lightning (Baraq) and a high place like heaven or the heights of heaven (Bam-Maw), the letter “U” or “O” would be used. So, Baraq “O” Bam-Maw or Baraq “U” Bam-Maw in Hebrew poetry similar to the style written in Isaiah, would translate literally to “Lightning from the heights.” The word “Satan” in Hebrew is a direct translation, therefore “Satan.”
So when Jesus told His disciples in Luke 10:18 that He beheld Satan fall like lightning from heaven, if this were to be spoken by a Jewish Rabbi today influenced by the poetry in the book of Isaiah, he would say these words in Hebrew–the words of Jesus in Luke 10:18 as, And I saw Satan as Baraq O Bam-Maw.
The names of both of Obama’s daughters are Malia and Natasha. If we were to write those names backward (the devil does things in reverse) we would get “ailam ahsatan”. Now if we remove the letters that spell “Alah” (Allah being the false god of Islam), we get “I am Satan”. Coincidence? I don’t think so.
Obama’s campaign logo when he ran in 2008 was a sun over the horizon in the west, with the landscape as the flag of the United States. In Islam, they have their own messiah that they are waiting for called the 12th Imam, or the Mahdi (the Antichrist of the Bible), and one prophecy concerning this man’s appearance is the sun rising in the west.
“Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people— saying with a loud voice, ‘Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.'” (Revelation 14:6-7)
Why have the word’s of Jesus in His Gospel accounts regarding His death, burial, and resurrection, been translated into over 3,000 languages, and nothing comes close? The same God who formed the heavens and earth that draws all people to Him through His creation, likewise has sent His Word to the ends of the earth so that we may come to personally know Him to be saved in spirit and in truth through His Son Jesus Christ.
Jesus stands alone among the other religions that say to rightly weigh the scales of good and evil and to make sure you have done more good than bad in this life. Is this how we conduct ourselves justly in a court of law? Bearing the image of God, is this how we project this image into reality?
Our good works cannot save us. If we step before a judge, being guilty of a crime, the judge will not judge us by the good that we have done, but rather by the crimes we have committed. If we as fallen humanity, created in God’s image, pose this type of justice, how much more a perfect, righteous, and Holy God?
God has brought down His moral laws through the 10 commandments given to Moses at Mt. Siani. These laws were not given so we may be justified, but rather that we may see the need for a savior. They are the mirror of God’s character of what He has put in each and every one of us, with our conscious bearing witness that we know that it is wrong to steal, lie, dishonor our parents, murder, and so forth.
We can try and follow the moral laws of the 10 commandments, but we will never catch up to them to be justified before a Holy God. That same word of the law given to Moses became flesh about 2,000 years ago in the body of Jesus Christ. He came to be our justification by fulfilling the law, living a sinless perfect life that only God could fulfill.
The gap between us and the law can never be reconciled by our own merit, but the arm of Jesus is stretched out by the grace and mercy of God. And if we are to grab on, through faith in Him, He will pull us up being the one to justify us. As in the court of law, if someone steps in and pays our fine, even though we are guilty, the judge can do what is legal and just and let us go free. That is what Jesus did almost 2,000 years ago on the cross. It was a legal transaction being fulfilled in the spiritual realm by the shedding of His blood.
For God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 18:23). This is why in Isaiah chapter 53, where it speaks of the coming Messiah and His soul being a sacrifice for our sins, why it says it pleased God to crush His only begotten Son.
This is because the wrath that we deserve was justified by being poured out upon His Son. If that wrath was poured out on us, we would all perish to hell forever. God created a way of escape by pouring it out on His Son whose soul could not be left in Hades but was raised and seated at the right hand of God in power.
So now when we put on the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 13:14), God no longer sees the person who deserves His wrath, but rather the glorious image of His perfect Son dwelling in us, justifying us as if we received the wrath we deserve, making a way of escape from the curse of death–now being conformed into the image of the heavenly man in a new nature, and no longer in the image of the fallen man Adam.
Now what we must do is repent and put our trust and faith in the savior, confessing and forsaking our sins, and to receive His Holy Spirit that we may be born again (for Jesus says we must be born again to enter the Kingdom of God–John chapter 3). This is not just head knowledge of believing in Jesus, but rather receiving His words, taking them to heart, so that we may truly be transformed into the image of God. Where we no longer live to practice sin, but rather turn from our sins and practice righteousness through faith in Him in obedience to His Word by reading the Bible.
Our works cannot save us, but they can condemn us; it is not that we earn our way into everlasting life, but that we obey our Lord Jesus Christ:
“And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.” (Hebrews 5:9)
“Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.’
Then He who sat on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’ And He said to me, ‘Write, for these words are true and faithful.’
And He said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.'” (Revelation 21:1-8).
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