And, most remarkable of all, the collection is openly on sale – passed by the Directorate of Publications.
Nelson Mandela has been known for 25 years as a leader of the ANC and the world's most famous political prisoner. Few people knew him as an ardent young amateur boxer. Until this week, that is.
For once, back in the Fifties, Mandela was dressed not as a natty young lawyer and up-and-coming political figure, but as a pugilist. And for once he was shadow boxing, not against the state, but for a camera lens. And for once a photograph of the ANC leader can be used.
Since Mandela and the other Rivonia trialists were sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964, photographs of them have been prohibited by the notorious Prisons Act. Now a new book on the shelves, The Fifties People of South Africa, includes never-before pictures of Mandela and others – and it has been passed by the Publications Control Directorate. From this week, the book is available in hundreds of bookstores, absolutely openly and legally, giving us images of some of the most famous – though faceless – South Africans.
Publisher Jim Bailey this week gave a simple explanation for how he managed this: "I took it personally to the Publications Control Directorate and it was passed." The famous politicians – now the famous prisoners – are one small aspect of the book, drawn from the Drum Magazine archives.
It contains photographic portraits of 95 "Fifties people" – the politicians, the singers, the musicians, the writers, the sportsmen, the gangsters and the beauty queens that made Drum Magazine famousduring that period. "A blinding kaleidoscope. An intoxicating visual medley … like Charles Dickens, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times," is how current Drum editor Stan Motjuwadi describes the book and the period it covers in his introduction.
The book includes some previously unpublished or rarely published gems: a picture of young advocate Ismail Mohamed defending Sheriff Khan, described in the book as "king of South Africa's underground"; the original King Kong and a youthful Mangosuthu Buthelezi.
The Fifties People of SA, Black life: Politics-jazz-sport was compiled and edited by Jurgen Schaderberg (Published by A Bailey's African Photo Archives Production and distributed by Heinemann).
This article originally appeared in the Weekly Mail.
