How South African Editor, Aggrey Klaaste, Put Himself On The Line With His Contrarian Idea

IN1988, Aggrey Klaaste became the editor of Sowetan and launched a project to intervene in the fraught political situation in South Africa. The Sowetan was the foremost daily newspaper for black South Africans, a successor to the Post and The World, both banned by the apartheid state.

It was a tumultuous time in South Africa, with state persecution and efforts to quell protest and opposition reaching their zenith.

Amid ongoing protest against the apartheid state, the government had declared two states of emergency. In addition, political groups within the country were at war with one another.

Klaaste was distressed by what he saw happening in black communities, where residents faced state terror and political violence.

As a result, he sought to rebuild local community organisations and to restore values such as good citizenship, self-help and neighbourly conduct. On taking up the editor’s mantle, he began outlining his “big idea” –