The first Forum of Black Journalists (FBJ) was not started to promote or advance the interests of black journalists. The stimulus was the dismissal of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela as deputy minister of arts and culture by former president Nelson Mandela in the late Nineties. Some black journalists felt that Madikizela-Mandela had been given a raw deal and deserved a hearing.
This happened and a platform, the imbizo (meeting), was created. Once a month, for about three years, many excellent public figures appeared in lively, insightful discussions well attended by journalists and the public.
Although Nomvula Khalo and Duma ka Ndlovu played key roles in running the FBJ, Oupa Ngwenya, as secretary general, was crucial. He put in much time and dedication and, fortunately, had excellent organisational skills. He also developed October 19 annual dinners to remember the darkest day in South African journalism, the day in 1977 that saw the banning of black journalists and the closure of iconic newspapers.
Ngwenya was too assertive, alienating Khalo and Ndlovu, as well as chairperson Abbey Makoe; they quit the FBJ.
In 2001, Ngwenya resigned after enduring much unreasonable, harsh criticism and attempts at interfering with his authority. I succeeded Ngwenya, who warned me to expect the worst. This came after the October 19 2001 event that introduced awards for excellence.
Those who did not get the awards, including the piqued Sandile Memela, then a columnist at City Press, rubbished the awards, the FBJ and me. Subsequently Memela teamed up with the long-lost Khalo to start an organisation that died immediately after birth.
Makoe, then a columnist at the Star, wrote a piece lamenting the problems of the FBJ. It was not lack of commitment and dedication, as he now says, that destroyed the FBJ, but personality conflicts and administrative wrangles — I had my share and called then South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) chairperson Henry Jeffreys to help. He tried, but without success. Finally, after I had quit, no one stepped forward to devote time and effort to it, as Ngwenya and I had done. If there isn’t a driver, the car won’t move.
And, most importantly, it fell victim to the national malaise induced by the essentially anti-intellectual and propagandistic African National Congress (ANC) dominance of public discussion. Many other black bodies, run along similar lines to the FBJ, such as the once vibrant Cultural Reclamation Forum and even the Union Buildings-based Native Club, are forlorn, fallen or limping.
The revival of the FBJ is part of the thronging or toenadering to ANC president Jacob Zuma. There are no principles or national interests prompting these passengers on the Msholozi Shosholoza express now running from the Luthuli House junction and headed, they hope, for the Union Buildings. And the recent FBJ/Zuma meeting is not the first. While deputy president of the government, Zuma invited the FBJ to the Union Buildings. There were strong objections to these meetings and demands were made that Zuma be invited, like all others, to imbizos for open discussions. The current controversies are a case of déjàvu.
The media serve the public interest, this they invoke even when probing the private lives of public figures. In the highly charged and corruption-fraught environment, let alone in a democracy, it is unethical for media practitioners to be seen in bed, and behind covers too, with legally and morally tarnished politicians.
The FBJ’s exclusion of the broad public in a ”non-racist democracy” was irksome. Black charlatans and opportunists conveniently raised the race card to cover their mediocrity. Should the FBJ meet healer and sage Credo Mutwa, as City Press editor-in-chief Mathatha Tsedu suggests, the best unusual business of that indaba would be a ritual cleansing to expunge the stigma that may earn this body the name Forum of Bribed Journalists. The quality of journalism among blacks has deteriorated; now the FBJ is taking it to the dumps, confirming that there are indeed ”kaffir journalists”.
Blacks do need a racial body. This needs a genuine and positive national movement that will engage these realities. Government measures as such are far from adequate, including the destructive and impoverishing social grants. Nor can this be achieved through the artificial practices of ”affirmative action”, race replacement-driven ”transformation” and black economic ”empowerment” — or rather entitlement and emasculation.
The FBJ, the Black Management Forum, the Black Lawyers’ Association and similar bodies reflect and aggravate the lack of self-determination. These are linked, by an umbilical cord, to white networks and practices. The black elite, the stepchildren of colonialism and apartheid, have also come to depend on easy pickings from or by government; this is parasitism. We have reneged on the historical challenge of racial self-transformation. A black renaissance is needed.
Meshack Mabogoane is the former secretary general of the FBJ. He has written for Drum, the Financial Mail, the Mail & Guardian, the Star, and Tribute and Enterprise magazines