There is always a suspicion, when one offers a fond farewell to a man who is a rival, that tributes are born more of relief at seeing the back of him than respect for his achievements.
It is therefore a measure of our admiration for Ken Owen that we express the hope his formal retirement as editor of the Sunday Times this weekend will not mark the end of his journalistic career, albeit in the service of an opposition newspaper.
In the wasteland of South African journalism left by the apartheid era, it does not take much to achieve fame in the local media, but Owen’s prominence would be deserved in other eras and most countries.
We have often disagreed with him — who hasn’t? – — but his acerbic pen has always been a joy. To borrow a phrase, he has been a gadfly on the rump of South African society.
Constantly challenging the high and mighty and questioning received wisdom, he has brilliantly and courageously discharged the highest calling of our profession.
Recently, on the slopes of Everest, a jumped-up mountaineer had the temerity to threaten violence on Owen’s person. Tear off the head of our Ken ? He might as well have threatened the desecration of a national monument.