Aggrey Klaaste

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Aggrey Zola Robeson Emile Klaaste (born January 6, 1940 in Kimberley , † June 19, 2004 in Johannesburg ) was a South African journalist. He was best known as the editor of the daily newspaper The Sowetan .

Life

Klaaste was born one of eight children. Both parents were teachers. When he was three years old, the family moved to Sophiatown , a suburb of Johannesburg, where his father had found work as an employee of a gold mine. After the neighborhood was forced to be demolished, the family moved to Meadowlands in Soweto . His Matric gained Klaaste at the Madibane high school.

In 1958 Klaaste began studying at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, from which he graduated in 1960 with a Bachelor of Arts . He was one of the last blacks to study there for a long time and experienced racism .

His first job was as a journalist for Drum magazine . From 1970 to 1971 he worked for the Trust newspaper . 1974 to 1977 he was employed as a news editor (for example: "Senior News Editor ") at the daily newspaper The World . The newspaper benevolently followed the protests in the wake of the Soweto uprising in 1976, so that it came into conflict with state power. He was jailed for nine months in 1977 with editor-in-chief Percy Qoboza . His next stop after the banishment of the world was the daily newspaper The Post , where he was also news editor from 1978 to 1982 . The Post merged with The Sowetan , founded in 1981 , where Klaaste became Assistant Editor . From 1988 to 1995 he was editor and from 1996 to 2002 editor-in chief of the Sowetan. He emerged from 1988 through his efforts to balance the various population groups ( nation building ), for which he was later awarded. Among other things, he promoted projects for the disadvantaged through his newspaper. He received criticism for this from representatives of the Black Consciousness Movement , who accused him of being too close to the whites. On the other hand, he was also monitored by the security police. Under his leadership, the Sowetan became the best-selling paper in South Africa, reaching around 1.8 million readers every day.

After working at Sowetan , Klaaste became a board member of New Africa Investments Ltd. (NAIL), a society within the meaning of the anti-discrimination program Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment , which among other things owned the Sowetan . In 2003 he became chairman of the Johannesburg Tourism Company. He continued to support the disadvantaged, including hearing-impaired children.

Klaaste had three children with his wife, Caroline. He died in 2004 of a lung infection in a Johannesburg hospital. Thousands said goodbye to him at his funeral.

Honors

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e entry in Who is Who in South Africa (English; archive version)
  2. ↑ a b Aggrey Klaaste - still building the nation. ( Memento from May 30, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) 2003 report at joburg.co.za (English), accessed on May 30, 2016
  3. ↑ a b c d Obituary in The Guardian of June 22, 2004 (English), accessed May 30, 2016
  4. ^ South Africa: thousands bid farewell to black journalism icon. allafrica.com from June 27, 2004 (English), accessed May 30, 2016
  5. ↑ Brochure of Walter Sisulu University 2015 (English; PDF), accessed on May 30, 2016
  6. ↑ Bra Aggrey deserves another chance. ( Memento of May 30, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) City Press of June 13, 2004 (English), accessed on May 30, 2016
personal data
SURNAME Klaaste, Aggrey
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Klaaste, Aggrey Zola Robeson Emile (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African journalist
DATE OF BIRTH January 6, 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH Kimberley
DATE OF DEATH June 19, 2004
Place of death Johannesburg