The Forum for Community Journalists (FCJ) is deeply saddened by the passing on Sunday of one of the country’s media legends, Joe Latakgomo, who served as the Press Council’s Public Advocate from 2018 to 2020.
Latakgomo’s death marks the end of an era for South African journalism. He leaves behind a legacy forged over more than 50 years of active service in the media, reaching the heights of founding editor of Sowetan in 198, a position that cemented his place in the pantheon of the country’s journalistic pioneers.
Standing firm during apartheid’s darkest days
Before his editorship at Sowetan, Latakgomo was a stalwart at The World and Weekend World, which were banned by the apartheid regime. He also served as Assistant Editor at the Post and Sunday Post, positions that placed him at the heart of black journalism during a time when simply telling the truth could result in detention or worse.
His courage was most evident during two pivotal moments in South African history. When the 1976 Soweto uprising erupted, it was Latakgomo who held the fort at The World. While his editor Percy Qoboza, who would later become a symbol of press freedom, was abroad on a Nieman Fellowship, Latakgomo shepherded young photographers Willie Bokala and Sam Nzima as they recorded the iconic images of that watershed year.
Then came Black Wednesday, October 19, 1977, when Qoboza was detained in a world headline-grabbing spectacle in the newspaper’s office. Once again, Latakgomo effectively had to take over.
Writing on the 43rd anniversary of that dark day, The Star’s sub-editor Nhlanhla Mbatha drew a powerful comparison: “In yesteryear politics, Nelson Mandela was the face of the ANC from the prison walls while Oliver Tambo was keeping the fires burning in exile. I draw parallels and dare say that if Qoboza was the Mandela of the press, Latakgomo must have been the Tambo of the Fourth Estate.”
‘A journalist’s journalist’
Media legend Joe Thloloe sees Latakgomo as a hero for his steadfast journalism under the most violent years of apartheid, calling him “a journalist’s journalist.”
“He would go out to do the reporting, come back to the office, pick up the dummy pages, design and lay them out for the printer,” Thloloe recalled. “But what is never brought out to the fore is that he was running The World as Editor when Soweto drew the line in the sand in 1976. Percy, who got the honours for this, was out of the country on a Nieman Fellowship that year.
“Joe wasn’t imprisoned like the rest of us that year, but South Africa carries the imprint of his foot. May his soul rest in peace and condolences to all his family and friends.”
Harassment and disinformation
Latakgomo had a campaigning and colourful personality, unafraid to speak about the conditions under which journalists worked during apartheid. In his submission to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1997, he detailed a form of harassment that was common under the regime.
“Sometimes we got telephone calls, people telling us what was happening. But we knew our telephones were being bugged,” he testified. “If we got a call like that and published it, it could be somebody sitting in security headquarters giving the impression he was from Tanzania or Lusaka, giving you disinformation and you would end up publishing what would eventually be untrue information and they would prove that you published false information and therefore discredit you forever.”
He described how security police would sometimes interrupt calls, saying in Afrikaans: “Julle praat maar kak, man” (You’re talking rubbish).
When the panel asked if this was the cops listening in, Latakgomo replied, “Yes. He would lose it and probably suddenly regret having done this. I don’t know how many people have had that kind of experience, and I bet you it will be hundreds of people. It was either arrogance about it or they were particularly dumb.”
A distinguished career
After his editorship at Sowetan, Latakgomo served as Assistant Editor of The Star and Assistant Editor of the Argus Africa News Service. He went on to become the Public Editor of Avusa (Times Media).
His work took him across the globe. He spent considerable time on the African continent and worked as a journalist in the UK, Canada, Japan and Hungary. In 1991, he was awarded the prestigious Nieman Fellowship to attend Harvard University in the United States.
A passion for football
Many also remember Latakgomo for his enthusiastic love of football. He was inducted into the SAB Sports Journalists Hall of Fame in 2009 and awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the South African Football Association in 2011.
His book, “Mzansi Magic, Struggle, Betrayal & Glory: The Story of South African Soccer,” was published in 2010. He also wrote the text for global icon Peter Magubane’s photographic commemoration, “June 16, Never, Never Again,” in 1996.
Tributes pour in
Khanyi Ndaweni, Case Manager at the Office of the press council, who worked closely with Latakgomo, remembers him as someone who “stood out as a kind and caring colleague who treated everyone with respect and warmth, and will be greatly missed.”
Executive Director of the Press Council Phathiswa Magopeni expressed the organisation’s sadness, saying: “We mourn the passing of Joe Latakgomo, whose voice as Public Advocate of the Press Council carried both courage and conscience. He understood that robust, independent media accountability is the lifeblood of democracy. We honour and celebrate his contribution to strengthening the credibility, integrity, and public trust in our media accountability and oversight system.”
Current Public Advocate Thabo Leshilo, who was in the media generation that followed that of Latakgomo and Thloloe, sees him as a mentor to many: “Bra Joe’s mastery of this craft and his fearless in speaking truth to the power of the apartheid regime played an important part in inspiring some of us to joint this noble craft.”
In his own words
Perhaps most fitting is to remember Latakgomo through his own words from a speech he presented at a Media Freedom Day event in 2010—words that remain as fresh and relevant today as when he first spoke them.
“The responsibility of the media is to report what citizens or government, or both may not want to hear, as well as what they do want to hear,” he said. “Newspapers dare not sanitise the news and thereby play God… and exclude news that may be perceived to be detrimental to the government or the ruling party.
“No doubt, we sometimes see our private picture of the world as the whole truth and nothing but the truth. For this reason, we want to demand everyone to see the world the way we see it.
“Freedom of the media means for us to say what we want to say and what we want to believe. This is enshrined in the Constitution.”
The Forum for Community Journalists extends its most compassionate condolences to his wife, Angie Latakgomo, the entire Latakgomo family, and to Bra Joe’s friends and former colleagues. He will never be forgotten.