A vital piece of South Africana
hoped-for reason and compassion, I wanted to slam down the work in exasperation for man’s inhumanity to man. Yes, I wanted to put the book down, turn away. I could not.
Fortunately, Miller does not set herself up as some “last white hope” to save “poor neglected Africans”, nor does she offer stereotypes.
In any story there must be change to fulfil the main character(s)’ metamorphosis, be it physical, mental, social or financial; here the denouement is every part as brutal as the entire episode(s).
There is no genie, no magic trick or potion to alleviate what is a tragic gene malfunction.
I read somewhere the fragment of a review which said: is a poignant, necessary aperture to a whole new world of small people who are just as able as everyone but in ways that we cannot even fathom…”
The book also demonstrates a mother’s love. Poor Yonela, used and abused, made pregnant by an itinerant lover and left impoverished, has only her instincts to try to understand her autistic son. But even that umbilical bond proves insufficient – whose side is God on, one sometimes thinks…
God bless Kirsten Miller. Other worthy unknowns have tried, more will do so, but Miller has in this work showed, in reality, love, however limited and basic and in any form, is the only way an autistic child can be succoured; ironically without perhaps even knowing.
Every family, with or without an autistic child, should read – I aver none will be dry-eyed at the end. A NEWSPAPER History of South Africa was first published in 1976, and continues to enjoy success among readers and collectors.
Through the years, it has been updated to reflect significant developments in the country’s fascinating albeit often turbulent past. In this, the sixth and latest edition, John Cameron-Dow has included the Oscar Pistorius murder trial, state capture, the fall of Robert Mugabe and the record-breaking feats of athlete Wayde van Niekerk.
The archive material drawn from Independent Media and Times Media (now Tiso Blackstar Group), which dates back to 1886, remains one of the standout resources of record, despite the scrutiny that legacy media has come under in the internet age.
Cameron-Dow wields a deft touch in providing a concise, well-written context to the various newspaper clippings, giving the book a wonderful flow as he builds up to the present day and the advent of President Cyril Ramaphosa.
A Newspaper History of South Africa (6th edition)
What makes of course, are the reproduced front pages and columns from titles like the Cape Times, Cape Argus, Sunday Times, Sowetan, Pretoria News and The Herald.
As interesting as it is to reflect on key events that shaped South Africa, it is how these publications covered them that contributes greatly to the nation’s story.
A lesson that certainly can be learnt from traditional newspaper reporting is that outside designated oped pages, there is little editorialising, even when it comes to colour pieces.
The modern online trend to provoke or goad through unabashed subjective narratives, often unsubstantiated, is nowhere to be seen, and one cannot help but feel the world is a poorer place as conventional reporting recedes into journalism’s shadows.
Legacy newspaper men and women also had the charming knack of finding a nugget of humour in events, no matter how big or tragic.
The day after the first-ever democratic elections, the Cape Times reported: “One elderly voter found unusual disfavour with the election yesterday. The unnamed man visited a Thorton polling station to vote for General Smuts, Prime Minister from 1939 to 1948. Told that Gen. Smuts, who died in 1950, was not on the ballot, he left.”
Of the “new” clippings, the coverage of Mugabe’s ousting is arguably the most impressive. Sentimental or not, it is a universal truth that some moments are best captured in print, and the toppling of Zimbabwe’s long-time ruler was superbly handled by The Star’s production team.
Long may Cameron-Dow continue to produce this vital piece of South Africana.