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{{Infobox newspaper |
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““Wilton Zimasile Mkwayi”” |
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| name = Tsala ea Becoana |
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| image = File:PT-Tsala ea Becoana-First Issue-1910.jpg |
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| caption = First Issue, 1910 |
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| owner = <!-- or |owners= --> |
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| founder = [[Sol Plaatje]] |
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| president = |
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| editor = |
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| staff = |
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| foundation = {{start date|1910}} |
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| political = Neutral |
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| language = [[Tswana language|Tswana]] / [[English language|English]] |
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| ceased publication = 1915 |
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| relaunched = |
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| headquarters = |
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| publishing_city = [[Kimberley, Northern Cape|Kimberley]] |
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| publishing_country = [[South Africa]] |
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}} |
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'''Tsala ea Batho / Tsala ea Becauna''' (“Friend of the people” or “Friend of the Becuana”) was a Tswana and English language newspaper based in [[Kimberley, Northern Cape|Kimberly]], [[Cape Province]], between 1910 and 1915. It was a politically nonpartisan newspaper, running topical news and opinions that would interest black people in South Africa. |
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Wilton Zimasile Mkwayi was born on 17 December 1923 in [[Middledrift]], [[Eastern Cape]]. He was an [[African National Congress]] veteran and one of the first six members of [[Umkhonto we Sizwe|Umkonto weSizwe]] to be sent for military training. |
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== History == |
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Tsala ea Becauna was founded by [[Sol Plaatje]] in 1910 in [[Kimberley, Northern Cape|Kimberly]], [[Northern Cape]]. It was the second Tswana and English language newspaper Sol Plaatje founded and edited. Articles in Sepedi often featured in the publication too. The newspaper was published multilingually as Plaatje was concerned that Setswana could disappear completely due to decreasing use. The first newspaper, Koranta ea Becauna was founded in Mafikeng in 1901, but the newspaper collapsed at the end of May 1909 because of financial difficulties. |
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Along with his family, Plaatje left Mafikeng for Kimberly, where the Seleka Barolong of the Tswana Nation funded the establishment of Tsala ea Batho.<ref name="Alternative">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a5ROAAAAIAAJ&q=tsala&pg=PA75 |author=Switzer, L. |title=South Africa's Alternate Press: Voices of Protest and Resistance, 1880-1960 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |year=1997|isbn=9780521553513 }}</ref> The Seleka Barolong were wealthy business people who lived in the [[Wesleyan Methodist Church (Great Britain)|Wesleyan Methodist]] mission community of [[Thaba Nchu]] in the [[Orange Free State (province)|Orange Free State]].<ref name= "Alternative"/> |
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Wilton “Bri-Bri” Zamisile Mkwayi was born in Chwarhu area near [[Middledrift]] in 1923. His parents were uneducated farmers <ref name= “Wilton”>[http://www.sadet.co.za/docs/rtd/stories/stories%20-%20wilton%20mkwayi.pdf Ndlovu, S. and Houston, G. 2008. “The Road to Democracy: South Africans Telling Their Stories”. Online. Accessed 3 September.]</ref> He was one of seven children. Mkwayi started school at age ten in a Presbyterian church building in Keiskammahoek. He had a rural childhood herding sheep and goats, and passing through circumcision school <ref name= "Wilton"/>. |
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The first edition of Tsala ea Becauna was published in June 1910.<ref name="Pariah">{{cite web |url=http://www.thejournalist.org.za/pioneers/sol-t-plaatje |author=Jaffer, Z. and Tshabala, S. |title=Sol Plaatje: Pariah in the Land of His Birth |work=The Journalist |accessdate=23 November 2017}}</ref> It was a four-page weekly aimed at Tswana speakers in the Becuanaland protectorate and other Tswana speakers in South Africa.<ref name= "Alternative"/> The newspaper eventually began to have national reach. |
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His father had been a member of the ANC, he told the court, and had made him a member in 1940 at the age of 17. He left school in 1943, while World War 2 was ongoing, to work at a dynamite factory in [[Somerset West]]. |
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== Editorial == |
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Mkwayi left [[Somerset West]] for [[Port Elizabeth]] in 1945 to work offloading big trucks and trains; he also worked at the docks. |
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In the first year of publication, the newspaper was focussed on the impending union of the colonies and republics — Cape Colony, Natal, Transvaal and Orange Free State — together as the Union of South Africa.<ref name= "Alternative"/> Tsala ea Becauna was against the union because it would grant dominion to the white minority over Africans. The union between the British and the Afrikaner excluded Africans from the vote and stripped Africans from their land. Tsala ea Becauna advocated for the [[Bechuanaland Protectorate]] (now the Republic of Botswana), [[Swaziland]] (now Eswatini), and [[Basutoland]] (now the Kingdom of Lesotho) to join South Africa. |
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With Plaatje as the editor, Tsala ea Becuana also reported on the Native Land Act and the paper referred to the act as the “extermination” of black Africans in the country. |
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He died on 24 July 2004. His funeral was held in King William's Town and attended by [[Phumzile Mlambo-Ncuka]]. His cremation was attended by [[Thabo Mbeki]]<ref name= “Statement”>[http://www.anc.org.za/content/statement-death-wilton-mkwayi 2004. “Statement on the death of Wilton Mkwayi” Online. Accessed 3 September.]</ref>. |
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Tsala ea Becauna often published news on strikes and letters from miners among reports of African welfare, industrial colour bars, poor wage earnings and low pensions.<ref name="Resistance">{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bUvA7PHnCrUC&q=tsalade&pg=PA119 |author=Switzer, L. and Adhikari, M. |title=South Africa's Resistance Press: Alternative Voices in the last Generation Under Apartheid |location=Ohio |publisher=Centre for International Studies |year=2000|isbn=9780896802131 }}</ref> The newspaper could not ignore miners and their concerns in Kimberly because of predominance of mine labourers.<ref name="Resistance"/> The newspaper also carried national and international correspondence obtained from other publications and editorials and commentaries on their editorial page. The newspaper reported on matters of interest such as assaults committed by white miners against black labourers. The newspaper enjoyed watchdog status. |
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The newspaper expressed modest views as is exemplified by their opposition to strikes.<ref name="Resistance"/> |
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==Political Career== |
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After [[Sol Plaatje]] became the first General Secretary of the South African Native National Congress (SANNC), later [[African National Congress]], the newspaper was increasingly viewed as an organ of the party by its readers.<ref name="Resistance"/> The newspaper contains records of the early meetings of the African National Congress. |
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On 1 May 1950, he participated in the [[ANC]] Youth League’s one-day general strike and stay away across South Africa. He was a leader of the 1952 Defiance Campaign in the Eastern Cape . <ref name= “Wilton Z.”>[http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/wilton-z-mkwayi 2013. “Wilton Z. Mkwayi” Online. Accessed 3 September.]</ref>. He was also union organiser for the African Textile Workers Union in Port Elizabeth in the early 1950s <ref name= “Statement”/>. He worked as treasurer of the South African Congress of Trade Unions. He was arrested after the Defiance Campaign for a metal workers strike and escaped with a fine <ref name= “Statement”/>. |
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== Late History == |
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Mkwayi was one of the 156 co-accused in the 1956 Treason Trial for supporting the Freedom Charter calling for a nonracial democracy and a Socialist-based economy <ref name= “Prisoner”>[http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/26/world/wilton-mkwayi-81-prisoner-with-mandela-for-2-decades.html The Associated Press. 2004. “Wilton Mkwayi, 81, Prisoner with Mandela for 2 Decades” Online. Accessed 3 September.]</ref>. |
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''Tsala ea Becauna'' was renamed ''Tsala ea Batho'' (“Friend of the People”) in April 1913.<ref name="Sol">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UotZ6YAyMroC&q=tsala&pg=PA21 |author=Van Wyk, C. |title=Sol Plaatje |location=Johannesburg |publisher=Awareness Publishing |year=2001|isbn=9781919910826 }}</ref> The name change reflected a growing national awareness and a shift from tribe to nation.<ref name="European">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gt07FgJovZEC&q=%22tsala+ea+batho%22&pg=PA196 |author=Gerard, AS. |title=European-Language Writing in Sub-Saharan Africa |location=Budapest |publisher=Akademiai Kaido |year=1986|isbn=9630538334 }}</ref> |
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Mkwayi went into hiding during the trial and the 1960 State of Emergency while the other defendants were detained, later arrested and tried during the Rivonia Trial. He was able to escape because a policeman mistook him for an ordinary member of the public. He started his exile in Lesotho with Moses Mabhida, Ambrose Makiwane and Joe Matthews. From Lesotho he journeyed to Swaziland, Congo, Ghana and the UK to meet the British Trade Unions Council (BTUC). The BTUC funded his travels to Prague, Romania and Czechoslovakia to establish contacts for the South African Council of Trade Unions. <ref name= “Wilton”/> |
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The publication struggled to stay open despite a circulation reportedly in the thousands and consistent advertising. Another contributing factor was that Plaatje left for Britain in May 1914, on the brink of World War I, as a member of the SANNC deputation protesting the Natives’ Land Act, and Tsala ea Batho came to an end during the prolonged time he was forced to spend overseas. |
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Alongside Raymond Mhlaba, Patrick Mthembu and Joe Gqabi, Wilton Mkwayi was sent for military training at the Nanking Military School in China. He met [[Mao Tse-tung]] while in China. They were the first [[Umkhonto we Sizwe|Umkonto weSizwe]] trainees.<ref name= “Obituaries”/> |
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The English-Setswana weekly, Tsala ea Becauna, was one of the organs of black political news and opinion for the turbulent period of its existence. |
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He returned to Britain after his training where he met [[Oliver Reginald Tambo]]. He returned clandestinely to South Africa in 1962 to work underground and lead sabotage operations such as Operation Mayibuye. His most documented disguise was a clerical collar that allowed his to pass for a township preacher. |
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== See also == |
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After [[Nelson Mandela]], [[Raymond Mhlaba]] and other co-defendants were arrested in July 1963, Mkwayi briefly took command of [[Umkhonto we Sizwe|Umkonto weSizwe]]. He was arrested at his girlfriend’s house in [[Orlando West]] Extension 1964 after he was sold out by a mole within the ANC to the [[Apartheid]] police <ref name= “Wilton”/>. He was detained in solitary confinement and subjected to torture while awaiting trial. |
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*[[Xhosa language newspapers]] |
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*[[Tswana language]] |
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== References == |
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Mkwayi was charged with Sabotage and Suppression of Communism Acts, with furthering the aims of communism and conspiring to bring about a violent revolution, allegedly as a member of the new High Command of Umkhonto we Sizwe. He was sentenced in December 1964 and sent to [[Robben Island]] where he met [[Nelson Mandela]] and [[Govan Mbeki]]. During his imprisonment, he was one of three prisoners – along with [[Nelson Mandela]] and [[Mac Maharaj]] planning to escape during a visit to a dentist in [[Cape Town]]. They called their escape plan off when they suspected a police trap setting them up for assassination <ref name= “Obituaries”/> |
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{{reflist}} |
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[[Category:Defunct newspapers published in South Africa]] |
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Mkwayi was released from [[Robben Island]] on 10 October 1989. In 1992, he was honoured with the [[ANC]]’s highest award, [[Isitwalandwe Medal]] (““the one who wears the plumes of the rare bird.”) awarded to those who have made an outstanding contribution and sacrifice to the liberation struggle <ref name= “Statement”/>. |
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[[Category:Tswana-language mass media|newspapers]] |
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[[Category:Newspapers established in 1910]] |
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He was elected to the National Executive Committee of the ANC in July 1991 and he continued to serve as a member of the National Executive Committee of the ANC until 1997 when he stepped down due to his ill health. From 1994, he served as a member of the National Assembly. He continued to serve as a member of Parliament in the National Assembly until his passing. |
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[[Category:Publications disestablished in 1915]] |
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==Personal Life== |
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In 1985, in a Robben Island Prison Ceremony, he married his childhood sweetheart Ntombifuthi Irene Khumalo and they had two children. She succumbed to cancer in 1987. He married a second time and his wife Patricia Lang-Mkwayi survives him. <ref name= “Obituaries”/> |
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==References== |
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{{Ref List}} |
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==See Also== |
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* [[Treason Trial]] |
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*[[Liliesleaf Farm]] |
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==External Links== |
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*[http://www.sadet.co.za/docs/rtd/stories/stories%20-%20wilton%20mkwayi.pdf Interview with Wilton Mkwayi]] |
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*[https://www.nelsonmandela.org/omalley/index.php/site/q/03lv00017/04lv00344/05lv01435/06lv01436.htm Nelson Mandela Foundation] |
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Latest revision as of 05:51, 7 December 2024
 First Issue, 1910 | |
| Founder(s) | Sol Plaatje |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1910 |
| Political alignment | Neutral |
| Language | Tswana / English |
| Ceased publication | 1915 |
| City | Kimberley |
| Country | South Africa |
Tsala ea Batho / Tsala ea Becauna (“Friend of the people” or “Friend of the Becuana”) was a Tswana and English language newspaper based in Kimberly, Cape Province, between 1910 and 1915. It was a politically nonpartisan newspaper, running topical news and opinions that would interest black people in South Africa.
History
[edit]Tsala ea Becauna was founded by Sol Plaatje in 1910 in Kimberly, Northern Cape. It was the second Tswana and English language newspaper Sol Plaatje founded and edited. Articles in Sepedi often featured in the publication too. The newspaper was published multilingually as Plaatje was concerned that Setswana could disappear completely due to decreasing use. The first newspaper, Koranta ea Becauna was founded in Mafikeng in 1901, but the newspaper collapsed at the end of May 1909 because of financial difficulties.
Along with his family, Plaatje left Mafikeng for Kimberly, where the Seleka Barolong of the Tswana Nation funded the establishment of Tsala ea Batho.[1] The Seleka Barolong were wealthy business people who lived in the Wesleyan Methodist mission community of Thaba Nchu in the Orange Free State.[1]
The first edition of Tsala ea Becauna was published in June 1910.[2] It was a four-page weekly aimed at Tswana speakers in the Becuanaland protectorate and other Tswana speakers in South Africa.[1] The newspaper eventually began to have national reach.
Editorial
[edit]In the first year of publication, the newspaper was focussed on the impending union of the colonies and republics — Cape Colony, Natal, Transvaal and Orange Free State — together as the Union of South Africa.[1] Tsala ea Becauna was against the union because it would grant dominion to the white minority over Africans. The union between the British and the Afrikaner excluded Africans from the vote and stripped Africans from their land. Tsala ea Becauna advocated for the Bechuanaland Protectorate (now the Republic of Botswana), Swaziland (now Eswatini), and Basutoland (now the Kingdom of Lesotho) to join South Africa.
With Plaatje as the editor, Tsala ea Becuana also reported on the Native Land Act and the paper referred to the act as the “extermination” of black Africans in the country.
Tsala ea Becauna often published news on strikes and letters from miners among reports of African welfare, industrial colour bars, poor wage earnings and low pensions.[3] The newspaper could not ignore miners and their concerns in Kimberly because of predominance of mine labourers.[3] The newspaper also carried national and international correspondence obtained from other publications and editorials and commentaries on their editorial page. The newspaper reported on matters of interest such as assaults committed by white miners against black labourers. The newspaper enjoyed watchdog status.
The newspaper expressed modest views as is exemplified by their opposition to strikes.[3]
After Sol Plaatje became the first General Secretary of the South African Native National Congress (SANNC), later African National Congress, the newspaper was increasingly viewed as an organ of the party by its readers.[3] The newspaper contains records of the early meetings of the African National Congress.
Late History
[edit]Tsala ea Becauna was renamed Tsala ea Batho (“Friend of the People”) in April 1913.[4] The name change reflected a growing national awareness and a shift from tribe to nation.[5]
The publication struggled to stay open despite a circulation reportedly in the thousands and consistent advertising. Another contributing factor was that Plaatje left for Britain in May 1914, on the brink of World War I, as a member of the SANNC deputation protesting the Natives’ Land Act, and Tsala ea Batho came to an end during the prolonged time he was forced to spend overseas.
The English-Setswana weekly, Tsala ea Becauna, was one of the organs of black political news and opinion for the turbulent period of its existence.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c d Switzer, L. (1997). South Africa's Alternate Press: Voices of Protest and Resistance, 1880-1960. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521553513.
- ^ Jaffer, Z. and Tshabala, S. "Sol Plaatje: Pariah in the Land of His Birth". The Journalist. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ a b c d Switzer, L. and Adhikari, M. (2000). South Africa's Resistance Press: Alternative Voices in the last Generation Under Apartheid. Ohio: Centre for International Studies. ISBN 9780896802131.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Van Wyk, C. (2001). Sol Plaatje. Johannesburg: Awareness Publishing. ISBN 9781919910826.
- ^ Gerard, AS. (1986). European-Language Writing in Sub-Saharan Africa. Budapest: Akademiai Kaido. ISBN 9630538334.