Nat Nakasa Award Winner: Mr Joe Thloloe
Nat Nakasa Award Winner: Mr Joe Thloloe
After almost 50 years in the media, veteran journalist Thloloe is tonight, being awarded with the Nat Nakasa Award, an accolade in recognition of his fearlessness and extraordinary contribution to newspaper journalism in South Africa.
He started learning journalism in jail, writing news stories with a pencil on toilet paper. He was an inmate not because he was a criminal, but because he lived for a democratic and non-racist South Africa in a fundamentally unjust society. Bra Joe, as he is fondly known, worked his way up through the ranks and is respected by everybody who has the privilege of knowing him. He has worked for The World, Rand Daily Mail, Golden City Post and Drum magazine, and is a former deputy editor of Sowetan, amongst others. He was also editor in chief of both SABC News and e.tv News. Thloloe is a former chairman of the South African National Editors' Forum (SANEF), deputy chairman of the Southern African Editors' Forum (SAEF), to name a few.
Joe Thloloe, the current South African press ombudsman, was recently awarded the Order of Ikhamanga in Silver for his exceptional contribution and achievement in the field of the media, literary writing and journalism. He is recognised for his independent and courageous writing, his contribution to the liberation struggle as a fearless, critical and independent journalist, and his role in the transformation of the media in the post-apartheid South Africa, based on the principles of free speech and freedom of the press.
Mr Thloloe has served as an inspiration to many of those who have met him and read his writings. Soft-spoken as he is, his stance is never wavering on issues of principle. Thloloe's use of his journalism to bring about a just South Africa has resulted in him experiencing moments of hardship. But his stance is an indication that he understood, as Bantu Biko once pointed out, that leadership in the revolution and comfort, are incompatible.
"The decision to choose Mr Joe Tholoe as this year's Nat Nakasa Award winner among a number of nominees was not a difficult exercise. This is borne out by the fact that the decision was unanimous among all the three judges - Mathatha Tsedu, Peter Sullivan and myself.” said Dr Simphiwe Sesanti, Senior Lecturer - Stellenbosch University.
One thing is certain, when Bra Joe’s story is recorded one day, it will be an inspiration to future journalism students who have a quest for a just society.
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