Mathatha Tsedu, a leading South African journalist, will speak about the role of the post-apartheid media on Monday.

His speech, “Journalism in South Africa: The Role of the Media After the Miracle” is sponsored by the Medill School of Journalism and will be held at noon in the McCormick Tribune Center Forum.

Tsedu will discuss the South African media’s importance during the apartheid regime and the challenges it has faced since the African National Congress came into power in 1994.

Tsedu, banned for five years by the apartheid government, played an active role in the press during a time when reporting a story that contradicted the government’s goals could mean death.

“It was an exciting time,” Tsedu said. “The adrenaline was high, but it was also a scary time because it was so dangerous. We did it because we knew what we were doing was helpful to other people.”

Tsedu’s journalism career began in the 1970s when he realized that local issues needed a voice. He taught himself the news story format and freelanced until he landed a regular reporting position.

As the anti-apartheid movement grew, the government suspected Tsedu’s involvement and banned him for five years. During this time, he was arrested, tortured and subjected to solitary confinement.

Tsedu went back to work the day the ban was lifted.

“The dangers didn’t matter because of the level of fulfillment that we felt,” Tsedu said.

Since then he sat on the editorial board of five major South African newspapers and served as the deputy chief executive for the South African Broadcasting Company.

He is the editor of City Press in Johannesburg, a weekly paper that serves a primarily black readership.

Although the apartheid regime ended 11 years ago, Tsedu said papers like City Press continue to act as watchdogs of the government.

“The responsibility of the media is very fundamental,” Tsedu said. “In the past we dealt with a race-based power system that wanted to oppress others and the people needed the protection of a vigilant media. Today it is the challenge of journalism to hold the government accountable for the promises it makes.”

Tsedu will discuss the role of the South African media and his experience as a reporter during a time of social and political

unrest.

Medill Prof. Douglas Foster teaches a course on the South African media and will accompany students who are traveling there for the Teaching Media program this spring. He said Tsedu worked during the most important period of South Africa’s democratic transformation.

“Mathatha is the embodiment of a certain integrity and courage in journalism,” Foster said. “He stuck to his guns under a pressure that most of us can only imagine.”

Medill junior Paris Ward, a member of Foster’s class who is going to South Africa, said it was important to take the chance to learn about a part of the world that is rarely talked about.

“Africa in general is so largely ignored by the media and the public,” she said. “The more people are aware of a situation like that, where people are being tortured because they are black, the more we can learn from history so that something like this never happens again.”

The Daily’s Alexander Pegg contributed to this report.

Reach Alex Doniach at [email protected].