‘Calm, humble newsman’ celebrated
WHILE his contemporaries were pondering a future in teaching, law or medicine in the late 1960s, a young Clairwood man, Mariah Vengtas Bisetty, was writing his destiny.
He had his sights firmly set on journalism, a field which only a couple of Indians had successfully penetrated just a few years earlier with groundbreaking jobs.
Bisetty, who died last week (April 18) aged 75, had worked for The Mercury, POST’s sister newspaper, for 52 years, including after retiring in 2014.
As a reporter, night news editor, and later, copy taster and sub-editor, he brought readers more than half a century of news.
Having served under 10 different editors, Bisetty is also credited with mentoring generations of young reporters, some of whom have gone on to leadership roles.
He started at the then The Natal Mercury in 1967 as a volunteer, mentored by his now late uncle Nagoor Bisetty, the first Indian journalist to work for the paper in the late 1950s.
When Nagoor later launched and edited The Natal Mercury Extra, a supplement aimed at Indian readers, Bisetty was roped in to assist.
“A versatile newsman, Mariah was not just a gifted wordsmith but a photojournalist,” recalled Veven Bisetty, former reporter at The Mercury.
“He was tasked with covering the ‘Indian Affairs’ beat on The Mercury that would see him criss-cross the entire KwaZulu-Natal from coast to coast, interviewing and taking pictures of sugar barons on their sprawling estates, to doing interviews on the Transkei border.
“Multitasking was easy for Mariah,” said Veven.
“While he focused on Indian community affairs, reporting on local affairs committee meetings and the tricameral parliament, mixing with leaders such as JN Reddy, Amichand Rajbansi, Vic Pillay and even government heads such as FW de Klerk, he would also cover social sporting events – the Durban Milk Carnival and sari queen beauty contests to name just a few.”
He said Bisetty was not just a beloved cousin but also a colleague.
“My journalism career was shaped through his mentorship and guidance – from the day my dad Nagoor introduced me to the world of newspaper reporting as a freelance writer.”
When Bisetty was promoted to night news editor in 1988, Veven took over as the paper’s “Indian Affairs” reporter.
That same year, he went to Regent College in London for several months on a prestigious journalism training programme run by the UK-based The Thomson Foundation.
“Mariah, the calm and humble newsman who shaped the careers of so many journalists, leaves behind a wonderful newspaper legacy.”
Deven Moodley, former POST reporter, said the community had lost a stalwart.
“It was interesting times working with Vengtas (Mariah), covering news and sport. We mixed and worked with interesting people like Fatima Meer, MJ Naidoo, RK Naidoo, Norman Middleton and Dr Goonam, opponents of the apartheid government.
“At that time Indians were being uprooted and moved to far flung areas like Chatsworth and Phoenix. Several towns like Verulam, Stanger and Umzinto had their own Local Indian Affairs committees with its own mayor and board members. Both Vengtas and I covered the news from these towns and areas.”
Moodley described Bisetty as a “sincere friend to one and all, and a true helper”.
“He was polite and always smartly dressed. He was a very capable and an old school professional as a journalist, but the word ‘no’ was not in his vocabulary.
“One quality I admired of Vengtas was that he never got angry,” he said. “I even asked his wife if he got angry with anyone at home and she said ‘no’. Go well, Vengtas, you are blessed.”
Moodley said journalism was a new career opportunity for Indians in the 1960s.
“Under apartheid it was difficult for people of colour to enter the journalism profession. We were fortunate to be guided by Nagoor Bisetty.”
Dr Iqbal Survé, Independent Media chairman, extended his thanks and gratitude to Bisetty for his loyal and dedicated service to the group and journalism in general. He said Bisetty’s passing was a huge loss.
Jon Knight, former night editor of The Mercury, paid tribute to Bisetty at his funeral last week.
He said Bisetty was one of the most humble people he had met.
“Kind, gentle, thoughtful and with a wonderful and naughty sense of humour, Mariah was always a hard and dedicated worker who was my righthand man.
“He knew the systems and procedures inside out, and he could always be relied on to produce the goods. He always went the extra distance. It’s not hard to understand as he came from a family who were involved in journalism.”
Philani Mazibuko, current editor of The Mercury, said: “Mariah was a good man who respected everybody. I was very fond of him and he treated me with respect even though I was very
junior to him. May his beautiful soul rest in peace.”
Dennis Pather, a former editor of POST, The Mercury and Daily News, said he and Bisetty enjoyed fulfilling careers lasting over 50 years.
“Shy and unassuming, he was an industrious and thorough journalist, and a true gentleman of the profession. A safer pair of hands would be hard to find,” said Pather.
“The fact that he served on The Mercury for so many decades is lasting testament to his abiding sense of loyalty, integrity and professionalism.
“The Bisetty family have had a long and proud tradition and reputation in the local newspaper industry.”
Bisetty and his family have a cumulative 130 years of service to local journalism, including 100 years at The Mercury alone.
Alan Dunn, a former editor of the Daily News and Sunday Tribune, said what stood out most for him about Bisetty was his competence, professionalism and quietness.
“Mariah remained composed even in the heat of deadlines, unflustered,
quietly finding solutions and getting out the next edition. He got the job done,” said Dunn.
“It was a blend of experience and his capability that made him a collegial pleasure.This, and a humour that was never far from the surface, made him good company in the pressured atmosphere of producing newspapers.”
Yogin Devan, former journalist, knew Bisetty for more than 40 years.
“He was the veritable gentleman of the Fourth Estate, full of manners, soft-spoken and meticulous in his craft of researching and producing content for The Mercury.”
Devan said Bisetty would be sorely missed in the newsroom “for faithfully abiding to school values of journalism”.
More than his love for journalism, Devan said Bisetty, of Umhlatuzana, was a deeply committed family man who left behind
his wife Vanie, three children and four grandchildren.
Fikile-Ntsikelelo Moya, former editor of The Mercury, described Bisetty as a “true gentleman and deep well of institutional memory. A library has burnt down with his passing”.
Aziz Hartley, Independent Media editor-in-chief, said Bisetty had made a positive and lasting contribution to the profession.
“He contributed a lot to what I am today, and I learnt many things from his excellent advice.”
Yogas Nair, former editor of POST and The Mercury, said Bisetty was “a genuinely warm individual and a good friend to many of us”.
“However, while we mourn the loss of a colleague, we pay tribute and celebrate a life that was well lived,” said Nair.
“He was a humble soul who has left behind a wonderful legacy that I will always treasure.”