Photo: Façade of the Media24 centre by Morné van Rooyen (2015), Wikimedia Commons. Book cover: Across boundaries by Ton Vosloo published by Jonathan Ball SA.
Across boundaries: A life in the media in a time of change
Author: Ton Vosloo
Translated by Linde Dietrich from the Afrikaans Oor grense: ’n Lewe in die media in ’n tyd van verandering
Publisher: Jonathan Ball Publishers (2018)
ISBN: 9781868428885
Through reading this book, it becomes clear that the author is speaking about his life in the media, where, for him to succeed at Nasionale Pers (subsequently called Naspers), he would need to transcend normal limits to arrive at a point of having created the largest South African company on the JSE. Put another way, Vosloo needed not just to clear some hurdles, not just to push some stumbling blocks out of the way; he needed to cross borders (into other countries) and transcend boundaries (to break down conventional practices). For this to happen, he had to take the company’s business from the traditional print media, onto the new level of electronic media. Perhaps he is one of those rare individuals who can combine knowledge, wisdom and understanding (being able to translate meaning) all at once. Reading into a situation in an ever-changing political, economic, cultural and social milieu – locally and abroad – requires these qualities, among others, to reach the kinds of outcomes he has managed to reach. Vosloo’s is not an altogether unique story; several South Africans who have put their companies or organisations on the world stage have faced similar challenges – they had to cross borders and transcend boundaries. Two examples of such companies that come to mind are Anglo American and the Peace Parks Foundation.
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Who would have thought that on 12 May 1915, when a group of businessmen decided to found a media business company, 108 years later it was to be the largest South African company on the JSE, and as a global consumer internet company one of the largest technology investors in the world?
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Who would have thought that on 12 May 1915, when a group of businessmen decided to found a media business company, 108 years later it was to be the largest South African company on the JSE, and as a global consumer internet company one of the largest technology investors in the world? Today, Naspers is quoted as being one of the top 500 companies in the world in terms of market capitalisation. According to Statista, there are 335 million companies in the whole world (2023), which places Naspers in the first 0,00000145%. Brand names include Takealot, Mr D Food, Autotrader, Property24 and Media24. Phuthi Mahanyele-Dabengwa, the CEO of Naspers South Africa, reports: “It is important that we use technology to transform our economy, create jobs, boost growth and transition to a more sustainable and equitable society.” She explains further the commitment of Naspers to advance the empowerment of historically disadvantaged communities and to advance ways for young people to thrive in the digital world. This book tells the reader how and why Phuthi can say what she says; one of the main participators in the success of Naspers is Ton Vosloo, who saw the need for his company to transcend any normal limits.
Across boundaries: A life in the media in a time of change has 23 chapters over and above a foreword. The foreword is by Hendrik du Toit, the founder and CEO of Ninety One, which is the Investec asset management company in the UK. Du Toit is also a non-executive director of Naspers, although he penned the foreword post facto to Vosloo writing. What Du Toit says about Vosloo is a significant thing; one assumes that Du Toit, operating in a company on a large scale in the UK, sees the bigger picture: “When Ton Vosloo retired in 2015 after a 59-year career in publishing, the most successful combination of chair and chief executive that South Africa has ever seen came to an end” (this is a reference to the combination of Vosloo and Koos Bekker, whose foresight for Naspers is phenomenal and who features elsewhere in this article). Superlatives used by Du Toit are not an exaggeration when he says “most successful”, “wise” and “incredible results” to describe them and Naspers. Du Toit chose to quote the evolutionist Charles Darwin, a fellow Cambridge alumnus (Du Toit read for an MPhil in Economics and Politics of Development (1988); Darwin, for a degree in Theology (1831)), to describe Vosloo: “[I]t is not necessarily the strongest that survive, but those that are the most flexible and adaptive to change.” It is in this way that Vosloo displayed extraordinary examples of management and leadership in the media industry, prepared to cooperate with Koos Bekker. The number of pages per chapter in the book varies: the shortest is eight pages, the longest 22 pages, making any reading schedule very manageable. There are 40 footnotes in a book of 291 pages; the text is set in 11/15-point Minion Pro. Acknowledgements are on pages 285-6. Vosloo explains that he wrote mainly about his own career, and little about his personal life, although there is some interesting autobiographical detail. The writer of this article posits that the two are inseparable. The book is thoroughly indexed, for which there are seven pages of comparatively fine print. Pages 283 and 284 respectively contain the names of prizes/awards, and books and contributions to books by the author.
Storm-kompas: Opstelle op soek na ’n suiwer koers in die Suid-Afrikaanse konteks van die jare tagtig (Tafelberg, 1981) en Schalk Pienaar: 10 jaar politieke kommentaar (Tafelberg, 1975)
Vosloo’s authorship of literature not only in journalism but also in books that he has written, attests to an understanding of political and historical forces that operated in South Africa during his lifetime. An example is an essay by Vosloo in a book entitled Storm-kompas: Opstelle op soek na ’n suiwer koers in die Suid-Afrikaanse konteks van die jare tagtig (Kaapstad: Tafelberg, 1981). As the title suggests, Vosloo has lived his life in a time of change; he was always aware of imminent change and adapted to it, which the reader of Across boundaries will soon come to see. If you had to say what the one factor is above all that made Vosloo successful in his career, it would be that he was ahead of the game. Another book in the Vosloo stable is one coedited with the redoubtable Afrikaner journalist Schalk Pienaar, who asked aggressive and daring questions, and who was noted for his unrelenting challenges to the apartheid government’s racial policies: Schalk Pienaar: 10 jaar politieke kommentaar (Kaapstad: Tafelberg, 1975). These two books can tell us about Ton Vosloo, his approach to social society in South Africa and how he envisaged solutions. Exegeting Across boundaries will, too.
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With reading Across boundaries, the question will arise about Vosloo and his position, particularly his ideological stance, while working at Nasionale Pers, which, through its newspapers, acted as a mouthpiece for the National Party.
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With reading Across boundaries, the question will arise about Vosloo and his position, particularly his ideological stance, while working at Nasionale Pers, which, through its newspapers, acted as a mouthpiece for the National Party. It was this party that implemented the policy of apartheid in 1948; but even before that, already since its inception in 1915, Nasionale Pers had operated in a system of racial oppression where journalists covered incidents affecting the victims of racial oppression. They sold stories to a mostly Afrikaner/conservative readership, who would benefit from the specialised apartheid system that favoured white people. Vosloo describes his family as being not the traditional Afrikaner National Party kind of family. His father joined the Second World War effort as part of the South African Police Brigade in 1941 and was a Freemason. He returned to his post in Uitenhage in 1943, but sadly died the year after. Conservative Afrikaners did not join the war and the National Party voted against participating in it in 1939, making Jacobus Johannes Vermaak Vosloo (Vosloo’s father) a bit of an enigma. Notwithstanding the above information, potentially showing the Vosloos’ more open stance towards the political order of the day, this did not mean that the young Vosloo was free from participating in the activities of Afrikaner nationalist organisations such as the Dutch Reformed Moederkerk; reading Die jongspan, a magazine for Afrikaans children; being a member of the Christelike Studentevereniging (Afrikaans Student Association); participating in the Afrikaans Leeskamer; and being a member of the Voortrekkers, an Afrikaner cultural organisation. Vosloo says: “My own Afrikaner sentiments were fairly tepid.” As for the family’s attitude to black people, he writes: “In our world, black people existed somewhere far off. Although black political pressure was building, whites generally viewed black activists as agitators. No one in the white community agitated for better housing or wages for black or coloured workers” (10).
Looking at Vosloo’s attitudes in a racial society, chapter 13 is a complex section of the book, explaining his position not to testify at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Neither Vosloo nor Nasionale Pers/Naspers appeared before the Commission; yet, 127 of its journalists apologised separately for journalists’ roles in apartheid. They “submitted affidavits to the TRC acknowledging the Afrikaans press as being integral in helping to keep apartheid in place and should have accepted moral responsibility for what happened” (News24). In 2015, Media24 CEO Esmare Weideman apologised for the company’s role in apartheid, acknowledging complicity in a “[m]orally indefensible political regime and the hurtful way in which this played out in our newsrooms and boardrooms”. Vosloo, through a leadership role in the company, sought solutions to the complex problems when the time he worked there coincided with apartheid, adopting a more verligte approach; to take his society out of an evil, reprehensible political system was his way of seeking such solutions (more of this point is discussed below).
Chapter 1: Childhood and first years in journalism & Chapter 2: The metamorphosis of Naspers
Vosloo explains his time as a toddler growing up in Uitenhage, his family life and schooling, and a brief period working in Pretoria, after which he returned to the Eastern Cape in 1956, writing for a local journal, Die Oosterlig. He then moved to Cape Town, working at Die Landstem doing parliamentary reporting, until Dagbreek and The Sunday Times, both produced in Johannesburg, came to the Western Cape. He immediately knew that his future lay northwards, as these newspapers would challenge Die Landstem’s readership numbers. Meanwhile, Vosloo was offered a post with a Johannesburg publication, and Lorna, a colleague whom he married in 1960, was also offered a post with a journal there. So it was that in 1963, the family consisting of the couple and their two-year-old daughter Nissa, moved northwards, about which Vosloo writes: “That move to the country’s North … changed my life. I had big dreams, but did not know just how far they would take me” (22). The couple started working there in June of that year, he at Dagbreek, she at Fleur. Vosloo shot up in the ranks to the position of editor of Die Beeld by November 1965. He took up a scholarship at Harvard, which coincided with the time of the amalgamation of Die Beeld and Dagbreek to become Rapport, for which he became the news editor in 1971. Four years later (1974), with the founding of Beeld, Vosloo was now editor. Beeld (a daily) and Rapport (a weekly) dominated the Afrikaans newspaper market in the northern provinces. The chapter shows that Vosloo grew up as many young white people did then, in suburbia, doing the things young people did, in a family structure with close friends around him.
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Vosloo, too, was writing for change, “prophesying” that “the NP would be forced to sit down at the negotiating table with the ANC”. He knew that to survive, his newspaper could not be caught on the back foot, politically speaking; it had to be leaning forward, ready to kick out of the starting blocks as far as political change was concerned.
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Chapter 2 explains Vosloo’s role in the “metamorphosis of Naspers”. It explains his slow but assured climb up the ladder in the organisation and the fact that he saw the need to diversify the newspaper’s clientele with not just the printed word but also the spoken. The nail in the coffin of print media was to be television, because big companies would now find a faster way to advertise, which for television was one of the basic ways to earn revenue. The chapter also explains how Vosloo was handpicked for having established three Sunday papers: Die Beeld, Rapport and then the daily, Beeld, in 1974. The biggest change for Vosloo came when he was made the MD of Nasionale Pers. The chapter explains the wrestling he had within himself – why me? With a strong writing background and a Harvard education, as well as an inclusivist stance where black people should be equal partners, he was bound to move up in the ranks so fast (26). By this time in South African politics, the verkrampte-verligte (conservative-inclusive) debate, encouraged by the likes of the South African journalist Hennie Serfontein, was well on its way, with other Afrikaner journalists such as Schalk Pienaar also addressing it in their newspaper articles. It was also a time when Afrikaner politicians such as Frederik van Zyl Slabbert and others had been working hard to see a more just political dispensation materialise – as Vosloo terms it, from a preparedness to embrace reform, to a readiness to accept change (26-7). Vosloo, too, was writing for change, “prophesying” that “the NP would be forced to sit down at the negotiating table with the ANC”. He knew that to survive, his newspaper could not be caught on the back foot, politically speaking; it had to be leaning forward, ready to kick out of the starting blocks as far as political change was concerned. Put in his own language, Vosloo warned against becoming extinct fossils, speaking to his 6 000-strong staff and sharing ideas with English-speaking journalists such as Jane Raphaely, herself a far-sighted journalist. Strongly positioned as the head of the organisation and in the hot seat as the MD, in December of 1984 Vosloo received the most significant phone call of his life. It was from a South African MBA student from Columbia University, Koos Bekker, whom he had met before in Johannesburg.
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A member of the group, M-Net, was subsequently awarded a licence for television services on the condition that it did not broadcast news, which was reserved purely for the government.
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Bekker had been exposed to pay television while in the United States, and so had Vosloo. They were acquainted with the TV service called Home Box Office (HBO). These two now worked together for more than three decades, a partnership to which a large part of the success of the company is attributed, although many others also had a part to play. Bekker was subsequently brought into the stable with Vosloo, who saw in him a brilliant mind and a high work ethic. These two now had their sights set on an electronic media network to supplement the print media alongside the country’s leading media consortia, so as not to elicit competition among them. A member of the group, M-Net, was subsequently awarded a licence for television services on the condition that it did not broadcast news, which was reserved purely for the government. The path was now set to weather the onslaught from the new digital age – from pulp to silicon. The network expanded under Vosloo, who negotiated major contracts with state-owned enterprises, the news and the telephone service. At age 60 (1997), he handed the baton to Bekker. The company now became known as Naspers, the new CEO was Bekker, and the two worked together for another 15 years until 2015, when Vosloo ceased to be the non-executive chair. Bekker was subsequently to take the company and its subsidiaries to new heights, operating in 133 countries. Wits professor Anton Harber has said of the two together: “Bekker had made all these moves with Ton Vosloo right behind him … but a big part of the credit belongs with Vosloo, the corporate paterfamilias who spotted Bekker at the age of 31 and has backed him ever since, even when things looked dire” (Anton Harber: Gorilla in the room: Koos Bekker and the rise and rise of Naspers, ebook published in September 2012 by Parktown Publishers, ISBN 13 9780992172701). Vosloo writes: “In this way, Naspers and its Afrikaans publications were able to contribute constructively to the new democratic dispensation” (37).
Chapter 3: A global giant, Chapter 4: Tencent, the colossus in the stable & Chapter 5: Koos Bekker, the talisman
In Chapter 3, Vosloo explains the listing of Naspers in the iconic year that South Africa achieved its full democracy and at the time “Afrikaans culture” needed reorientation (1994). Vosloo explains that from the time of listing in 1994 until 2017 when he was writing this book, Naspers became the largest listed company on the African continent. The magnanimous Vosloo attributes much of the success to the vision of Bekker. There were certain “rules” that Bekker insisted on: social deconstruction in all policy, no colour or gender discrimination, no car parkings reserved for management, no surnames. SuperSport and Mweb flowed from M-Net; MTN was founded, then MultiChoice; and finally, there was entry in a big way into electronic media. Financial outreach followed in many countries, with Tencent being the “cherry on top” in Chinese technology (43). Investment in empowerment schemes followed, with redressing of inequalities and letting historically disadvantaged people share in the company’s success. Not all was a bed of roses, with the challenges that Naspers faced in the slanderous attacks from certain media people. It weathered the storm, launching “substantial empowerment actions … to the benefit of the whole of society” (45). Vosloo’s vision saw to it that any sectarian past would be obliterated through a more inclusive approach.
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Vosloo’s vision saw to it that any sectarian past would be obliterated through a more inclusive approach.
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Koos Bekker in 2015. Photo: Morné van Rooyen (Wikimedia Commons)
Chapter 4 is the book’s magic wand. Again, Vosloo credits Bekker, who took a Malcolm Gladwell approach (my own thoughts here) and drove the programme for television, telecommunications and information technology in an astonishing way (46). Two other persons mentioned by Vosloo worked to establish the company’s success, namely Charles Searle and Hans Hawinkels. Pages 47 to 55 explain their respective roles. They were not alone in ensuring success for Naspers as far as Tencent is concerned. The growth from $32 million for 48% of Tencent (in the financial year 2002-3), to 34% having a worth of $90 billion in 2016, is hard to imagine – it is the jewel in the Naspers crown (says Vosloo), though ironically having investments in “two leading former communist countries”. Talk about unlocking potential. Vosloo speaks of unintended circumstances whereby he stands in amazement “at the ways of the human being and society”.
Chapter 5 expands on his meeting with Bekker in 1984, followed by the M-Net success story – but that is only the beginning. Vosloo describes how each of them kept their lives private from the other, always strictly business. Vosloo explains his admiration for Bekker’s magnanimity towards projects for the advancement of training and education. His vision to make MultiChoice digital, taking Naspers away from its prime industry – going from the graphic to the video, from print media to digital viewing – was, to him, phenomenal. Both these men had a vision to move out of Afrikaner ideologies and to present actuality programmes, and not just to Afrikaans speakers – but to connect and engage with all South Africans. Bekker sponsors a chair of Mandarin at the University of Stellenbosch. Heather Dugmore interviewed Bekker to find out more about his vision for connecting people around the world, for which communication technology is the key – sometimes an audacious move, as in the environment of a still-communist country when operating in China, although great change has come to certain aspects of that economy. According to Bekker in this interview, “Communication technology has transformed the globe in two short decades.” To show how this works, he cites as an example that at the time he graduated with a law degree from the University of the Witwatersrand in 1978, approximately 98% (by value) of all the businesses in which Naspers currently operates (in 130 countries) did not exist then. Multitasking, learning on the hoof, absorbing as much as you can, seems the way to stay in the game of innovation and change (go to https://heatherdugmore.co.za/a-future-for-a-very-different-world/ to read a very interesting interview).
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Multitasking, learning on the hoof, absorbing as much as you can, seems the way to stay in the game of innovation and change.
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One sees the significance of learning Mandarin to reach out to distant communities, sometimes intractable because of cultural barriers. This must have facilitated making the connections that Bekker set up in the world of communication technology that enabled him to innovate at Naspers. Failure to understand his philosophy that the future lies in transition, can inhibit a greater understanding of Vosloo’s book. As for Vosloo, he knew how to stay ahead – the lessons of a political journalist. Some will say this is easy: just stay a few steps ahead. However, it required structural (not just seasonal) vision. His work in the political landscape as a journalist gave him such vision – possibly in the way that Mandela and De Klerk saw the practical future for their country. Bekker had his own kind of vision for technological change, but on a large scale; and to a certain degree, he saw the value of entering an extraneous culture that had great potential for profit-making. This opened the shell, and there was coconut water in abundance – a hard nut to crack. It is almost as if the meeting of these two was a freak of nature.
Today, entering the Chinese media market has paid off, and being a student of Mandarin helps the business (seen in Bekker). Vosloo candidly speaks of differences between himself and Bekker, especially around the publication of a written history of Naspers, one wanting no publication of it, the other being all for it. The one had ideological reasons, the other ontological. The reader will enjoy going through Vosloo’s explanations. The final word from Vosloo is on Bekker’s intelligence, dedication and drive that have made Naspers into a gem of a company.
Chapter 6: The press and politics: Vanguard thinking and paving the way
NP van Wyk Louw in 1968. Credit: Public domain (Wikimedia Commons)
Vosloo explains the way constructive thinking must happen from inside. After the NP took over as the government, there were academics that opposed government thinking. Nasionale Pers, an NP mouthpiece, nonetheless afforded dissidents a turn to speak. Neither outsiders nor journalists inside the NP concealed their scepticism about the government’s homeland policy, a political phenomenon which emerged in the fifties. What is more, Vosloo explains that as journalists, they were not as ready as might have been the case, for certain events such as the Dakar mission (1987). Naspers slated the move, which was for Vosloo “a mistake and an embarrassment” (74). This was when the Institute for Democratic Alternatives in South Africa (IDASA) and the African National Congress (ANC) met in the city of Dakar in Senegal between 9 July and 12 July 1987. Here, the two groups entered into dialogue to discuss strategies to bring fundamental change to South Africa. Perhaps it was because the IDASA delegation had gone on its own to meet a banned organisation that Naspers avoided supporting the move. As Vosloo says, sometimes political hope and political fear “tugged at opposite ends of a decision”. More analysis of Nasionale Pers’s journey on the road to democracy, with its tempo in fits and starts (to use Vosloo’s term) and with many potholes along the way (also Vosloo’s term), is required to understand the situation better.
Yet, in contrast, there are situations where his newspaper was farsighted. Vosloo gives the necessary historical context to demonstrate the need for Afrikaners to appreciate their national poet NP van Wyk Louw’s political-philosophical thought of gradualism, as in “survival in justice” (leadership with justice); this, he posits, was necessary to survive. He cites Piet Cillié and Schalk Pienaar, both Afrikaner newspaper men, as proponents of this vision. Questioning of apartheid started growing among more liberal Afrikaner leaders in the church, as well as in civic society and in society in general, in the sixties. It was the time of the Cottesloe conference, organised by the radical World Council of Churches (WCC) in 1960; Macmillan’s renowned “wind of change” speech (1960); Sharpeville; the clash over the constitutional future of coloured people; and the dissenting voice of the Afrikaner divine, Beyers Naudé. This was the time of Die Beeld, a Nasionale Pers initiative, with Vosloo as one of the paper’s political reporters. This publication gave the image of being a paper for everyone, summing up the weekly news (it was a weekly that appeared on a Sunday much like The Sunday Times did for a mostly English-speaking readership). New readers were attracted due to the pioneering nature of this specific newspaper. When Verwoerd was assassinated in 1966 (he had disdain for Die Beeld), the government policy started changing towards a form of détente with African countries. Verwoerd’s successor as prime minister, advocate John Vorster, adopted a slightly more outward-looking foreign policy – an outward movement not only politically, but also in the field of international sport.
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Vosloo’s stance meant that he sometimes found himself in trouble from the more conservative journalists. By 1983, however, Pers’s opposition, Perskor, became ambivalent in matters political, resulting in its morning dailies closing down. Meanwhile, Vosloo knew how to be ahead of the game and keep on striving to enlighten his readership.
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This was characterised by Vorster’s paving the way for multinational (as opposed to multiracial) sides to play sport in South Africa. While there were these outward movements in the political and sporting arenas, apartheid was still the existing ideology, strongly defended by the more conservative Afrikaner. However, in Afrikaner press circles, the two opposing conglomerates of Perskor and Nasionale Pers were constrained to form a 50-50 merger, bringing together Die Beeld (Nasionale Pers) and Dagbreek en Sondagnuus (Perskor) to form Rapport in November 1970 (as a Sunday paper). Four years later, in 1974, the daily Beeld was launched, and three years later Vosloo was its editor. This was to be the start of stronger opposition to the government’s policies; Vosloo was clearly the reformist. Perhaps the article that he penned on 9 January 1981 (long before Mandela was released, which was in 1991) in Beeld shows him to be this reformist: “The day will surely come when a South African government will sit down with the ANC at the negotiating table.” It was a delicate time in South Africa’s political history, when several of the more outward-looking cabinet ministers were in sensitive talks with the black freedom movement, Swapo (South West Africa People’s Organisation), on the future of South West Africa (Namibia). Vosloo names his political mentors and those who inspired him – and those who never did: Verwoerd, Vorster and Botha. Vosloo’s stance meant that he sometimes found himself in trouble from the more conservative journalists. By 1983, however, Pers’s opposition, Perskor, became ambivalent in matters political, resulting in its morning dailies closing down. Meanwhile, Vosloo knew how to be ahead of the game and keep on striving to enlighten his readership.
Chapter 7: Invasion of the north & Chapter 8: A tectonic shift
Vosloo explains the political landscape towards an understanding of the press industry in South Africa amidst the political milieu. For the student of the South African political history of that time, these chapters are a valuable source. There were two major Afrikaner newspaper consortia: there was the north-based Dagbreekpers, which was to become Perskor; and Nasionale Pers Limited, its opponent, was in the south. Vosloo continued to push boundaries through verligtheid at Die Beeld (the Sunday weekly), and against the north’s conservatism (99). What helped Vosloo was that he had recently returned as a Nieman Fellow at Harvard in July 1971. This sabbatical at Harvard had also brought him new ways of thinking and ideas. Perhaps this newly acquired mental power was fertile ground for a new challenge when the daily Beeld was established in 1974, and Vosloo became one of the senior assistant editors. Chapter 7 is a difficult chapter, as it problematises the change in South African sociopolitical society, from kragdadigheid to the realisation that apartheid was not going to last. One really needs to understand white South African politics from the fifties to the seventies for a broader understanding of the situation, but Vosloo takes the reader through it all, with illustrations and descriptions from his own position and experiences. For instance, he examines the three prime ministers, all very different, outlining the ideologies of each and the impact each had on South African society. Hans Strijdom died in harness (1958), Verwoerd was assassinated in 1966 and Vorster was forced to resign for his role in the so-called Information Scandal in 1979. All were proponents of so-called “white baasskap” (white domination), which irked the more progressive Afrikaners such as Vosloo. This chapter clearly sets out the press war between these ideologues and their boards of directors, and journalists such as Vosloo and the fearless Schalk Pienaar, who tried to move the minds of Afrikaans readers towards a more open and enlightened view of the situation. One of the points they (these more enlightened Afrikaners) drove home was questioning how one could see the Afrikaners’ struggle against British imperialism and not see black people’s own volition for change towards equality.
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In 1970, the NP scored a massive victory at the polls, but it was a time that government opposition became weakened and the Progressives gained ground. Was it because the newspapers in the Nasionale Pers were conscientising Afrikaners to start accepting change?
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Schalk Pienaar, while he was the editor of Die Beeld in the mid-1960s. Credit: Public domain (Wikimedia Commons)
Chapter 8 is one of the longest chapters and explains the change in South African society and its effects on Naspers. Here, again, a student of this subject matter would find Vosloo’s writing of use as a source. As in chapter 7, a difficult era in South African politics is reviewed; Vosloo once again uses his own experiences to make sense of it. The role of Nasionale Pers in the Yes referendum was a factor leading towards the country’s full democracy. Vosloo was at the helm of a conglomerate that encouraged this change. Once again, there are vignettes of this gradualist and, to some extent, inclusivist history, not least how the more enlightened Afrikaners wrestled against the conservatives, a political phenomenon emanating from the mid-sixties (104). The time of the imprisonment of activists is recounted in this chapter, with Vosloo himself a target because his newspaper had published a photograph of a former political prisoner. This had nothing really to do with the current situation at the time, but Die Beeld was too liberal for the National Party government’s ideology. Vosloo considered the views of two colleagues, Piet Cillié and Schalk Pienaar, who promoted “the idea that South Africa could not continue uncompromisingly with its apartheid policy” (106). Vosloo is not enamoured at all of Vorster, even though it was under his rule that cracks in the system of apartheid started to show – a move in attitude towards international sport (as mentioned previously) and dialogue with African states towards a more open stance in foreign policy. Vosloo exegetes the subtle undertones of Nasionale Pers’s political newspaper politics; the further right-winged NP politicians ventured into conservatism, while the less effective were the traditional government opposition. In 1970, the NP scored a massive victory at the polls, but it was a time that government opposition became weakened and the Progressives gained ground. Was it because the newspapers in the Nasionale Pers were conscientising Afrikaners to start accepting change? If so, it can be argued that the likes of Vosloo were among those propagating such a view. The chapter finishes with the in-depth analysis of the role of Nasionale Pers in the PW Botha fall and the rise of his successor, FW de Klerk (1989). It certainly was a time one might term a tectonic plate shift. The earth was moving; Vosloo was moving with it.
Chapter 9: Connecting with our black compatriots & Chapter 10: Leadership
I have not seen the Afrikaans translation; I would prefer to call the chapter “Connecting with our black colleagues”. Vosloo explains how the daily and weekly in the Nasionale Pers stable (Beeld and Rapport) fired sharp criticism at the government for its ridiculous policy to use Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in certain subjects in black schools, as in Soweto, from 1975. This was one of the principal causes of the Soweto Uprising, an event that changed the course of South Africa’s history. No longer was it just the established dissidents acting against apartheid, but also younger generations. To Vosloo, it was an opportunity to reach out to his black colleagues. In the mid-seventies, he and the editor of The World, Percy Qoboza, exchanged columns. In Vosloo’s words:
We decided to exchange views. Some of Percy Qoboza’s columns appeared in Beeld, and some of mine in The World. The same applied to editorials. Our hope was that the readers of Beeld and The World would gain an understanding of one another’s worlds, concerns and hopes. It was vital that the people of the country did not live past one another – that they got to know one another’s humanity. The cooperation between our papers was a step forward in South Africa’s press industry. (122)
Consequently, his newspaper was viewed as being “red” (communist) at a time when South Africa was coming under attack from socialist countries, with Cuban forces at its borders. The Carnation Revolution in Portugal had just taken place, putting pressure on South Africa’s north-western and north-eastern borders (Namibia and Mozambique) in the so-called Border War (1974). The World was subsequently closed down, and the editor banned. Vosloo attributes freedom in South Africa to acts such as the collaboration between him and Qoboza. His collaboration was by no means the beginning of change; the idea for change had been planted even earlier by the likes of Piet Cillié and Schalk Burger in the mid-sixties. A profound statement comes from Vosloo when he says: “Nasionale Pers had been grappling with change for a century. This explains why its readers, too, found it possible to embrace radical reform by 1994” (123). These measures (of reform) are carefully explained – not least being when Nasionale Pers bought up black newspapers, and black journalists were appointed to write for an Afrikaans paper. Later, the new democratically elected South African president, Nelson Mandela, attributed change in South Africa to the way some Afrikaans newspapers had adapted to change through impartial reporting, and to Vosloo, who had played an important role in achieving that. Vosloo explains the different perspective that Mandela had towards some of the Afrikaans newspapers, showing deep appreciation for Nasionale Pers (127).
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Later, the new democratically elected South African president, Nelson Mandela, attributed change in South Africa to the way some Afrikaans newspapers had adapted to change through impartial reporting, and to Vosloo, who had played an important role in achieving that.
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In chapter 10, entitled “Leadership”, Vosloo explains: “My leadership had been formed in my journalistic years. It was a huge responsibility, but also exciting, to advance from general news reporting to sport, and to be an observer and reporter from 1958 to 1970 in the scrum of our politics, the House of Assembly.” He continues: “Those parliamentary years were worth their weight in gold. Besides getting to know political leaders, I was also afforded a helicopter view of national affairs as they unfolded.” This was a very complex era politically, and one in which Vosloo operated in a vacuum (alone): you took the reins by yourself, you led the editorial staff and forged your colleagues into a cohesive team, and you had to coach them to outperform your rivals, “but also crush them politically” (learn not to be biased) (129). The style he had, paid off if one considers that he led Beeld to the extent that its four rival papers saw their demise. Vosloo explains his drive to get his readers to understand “the politics of tomorrow” and to create a more inclusive South Africanness; there had to be a form of servant leadership. According to Vosloo, no organisation exists for any other purpose than that of rendering service to society (133). Interesting anecdotes await the reader from Vosloo as to what his favourite quotations are from “famous” people. What also strikes one when reading this chapter, is the scale of operations, across borders and time zones – from print media to pay television, from cell phones to digital products – operating in more than 130 countries. Leadership, to Vosloo, was adaptation to the way a new society was unfolding. This included black empowerment schemes, for which MultiChoice is a classic example of Naspers’s outward vision.
Chapter 11: Broedertwis (rivalry between close kinsmen) & Chapter 12: Turbulence at Nasionale Pers
A reading of the Vosloo book requires some background knowledge of complex issues such as the white South African politics of the time (the fifties to the seventies), which Vosloo helps to provide. The history of this newspaper company (which changed to electronic media) was intertwined with the politics of the day, and characterised by brotherhood and baasskap. Gradually, a more open situation developed, until South Africa became a full democracy in 1994. However, it was in the mid-sixties and seventies that this Afrikaner brotherhood split, not only within itself but also geopolitically (the north versus the south). The split was also seen in the different newspaper companies, such as with Perskor, the Afrikaner newspaper group in the north, versus Nasionale Pers of the south. Debates and polemic began taking place among the more outward-looking journalists such as Schalk Pienaar, whose view was that apartheid would not go on forever (discussed previously). Added to the split was also the demographic reality that the government’s homeland policy was not working; this was evident from the increase in influx control of black people into the white areas, rather than the other way round. Pienaar, writing under the banner of Die Beeld (Naspers), exposed the fictions of Verwoerd and other geopolitical ideologues in creating separate black homelands, which were conceived at a time of his (Verwoerd’s) purge of black people in South Africa, and as a foil to the political jargon of the likes of Harold Macmillan in his “winds of change” speech, which called for independence for black people on the continent of their birth. It was the likes of Vosloo, news editor of Rapport (1970), the new weekly, who changed the course of Afrikaans newspapers. The verkramptheid in newspapers subsided, and a new outward vision entered. Vosloo had returned from a fellowship in the United States (already mentioned – there is some repetition in the text). This move was strengthened when the daily, Beeld, came into being, where Vosloo started working as the assistant editor.
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The history of this newspaper company (which changed to electronic media) was intertwined with the politics of the day, and characterised by brotherhood and baasskap. Gradually, a more open situation developed, until South Africa became a full democracy in 1994. However, it was in the mid-sixties and seventies that this Afrikaner brotherhood split, not only within itself but also geopolitically (the north versus the south). The split was also seen in the different newspaper companies, such as with Perskor, the Afrikaner newspaper group in the north, versus Nasionale Pers of the south.
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Chapter 11 explains the continuation of the golden thread of the history of Afrikaner newspaper companies, namely that they were strongly bound by ideology. Against this conservatism, Vosloo pursued a more open and gradual approach through so-called verligtheid, attempting to shape mindsets through a more inclusivist way of reporting. Chapter 12 explains something severe that happened in the life of Afrikaans newspapers and Nasionale Pers. Former MD of Nasionale Pers, and still serving on its board, advocate Lang David de Villiers decided to stand as an Independent against the National Party candidate for Stellenbosch, Piet Marais, in the 1987 elections. Such a move challenged the founding policy of Nasionale Pers, namely to support the National Party through its newspapers. De Villiers explained that he had decided on this move for “the quest for justice for all people of South Africa over the years”. From such a statement, one sees that De Villiers was a visionary, as Vosloo writes; Nasionale Pers followed the route De Villiers had taken, and one knows now that seven years later South Africa had its full democracy. The chair of Nasionale Pers at the time was Piet Cillié, a stalwart of Nasionale Pers. Cillié wrote to De Villiers to say that he had betrayed the party at a stage (1987) when “it is so evidently the best, even the only, available instrument for security, reform and welfare in South Africa” (the term “leadership with justice” was used as justification) (155). In his actions, Vosloo explained that De Villiers had guided Nasionale Pers towards a more enlightened path, an aspect Vosloo himself could take “advantage” of in a conservative milieu. Ironically, Vosloo describes De Villiers’s many moves as shifting boundaries, yet he names his book Across boundaries. Perhaps Vosloo, in some way, was given the chance to transcend boundaries already shifted by advocate Lang David de Villiers. De Villiers never held back; as early as 1983, when the Tricameral Parliament was instituted, he spoke of the great keystone that was still missing, which was the “incorporation of black people into central government” (156). More than that, for Vosloo, it was actually “a kind of a step over the brink”, because the reality of the end of white rule was imminent (shown by the positive response by white voters to the 1992 referendum when a decision had to be made about negotiations with the ANC). Vosloo, however, does not claim to have been the clairvoyant; he describes in a self-effacing way that there were others, such as De Villiers, as well as the well-respected verligte journalist Dene Smuts, who perhaps had a better understanding of this need to change than he did.
Chapter 13: Shock waves, a tsunami and ongoing ripples & Chapter 14: Presidential tempers
The following account might come unexpected to the reader. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) established to deal with South Africa’s turbulent political past from 1960 to 1994, is examined in regard to Naspers. The Commission’s aim and purpose was to investigate gross human rights violations that had been perpetrated during that period, especially atrocities such as political violence, abductions, killing and torture. The reader will need to see for herself/himself what happens in this chapter. There are 15 pages that describe what Naspers considered to be a dilemma as to whether is should appear before the TRC. The situation is fully explained from Vosloo’s point of view. Some of the journalists working at Nasionale Pers were not content with the stance of non-appearance adopted by the Naspers directorate, and instead made their own representation, for which they were commended by Archbishop Tutu, one of the two chairs of the Commission. Vosloo explains Naspers’s directorship’s decision not to appear, which the reader will need to follow.
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What one perhaps learns most from these chapters is the closeness with which journalism and politics are associated. They are constituencies that interact for their power. When one moves away, the other is vulnerable; however, out of necessity, this must happen when the once symbiotic relationship becomes intolerable – as with Nasionale Pers when it had to move away from its sibling, the National Party.
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PW Botha in 1962. Credit: Public domain (Wikimedia Commons)
Chapter 14 discusses the position of PW Botha, who subsequently became the country’s prime minister (1978-84) and president (1984-9). According to Vosloo, Botha would lose his temper at times he needed to control it, as in meetings with international representatives. Apparently, at the occasion of the stabbing of Verwoerd in parliament, according to the inveterate politician Japie Basson on page 33 of Meneer die speaker! Uit die politieke plakboek van Japie Basson, accusations flew from the part of the minister of defence, PW Botha, and a group of his colleagues, in the direction of Helen Suzman and the Progressives, to the effect that it was their politics that was the cause of what was transpiring (because of their liberal tendencies). The chapter contains interesting and sometimes humorous anecdotes about Botha’s tirades described by his wife, Elize, that is, that he did it for effect (181). Whether that is true or not, Botha came across as sufficiently aggressive to be known as “Die Groot Krokodil”. Even if he controlled his anger, as Vosloo writes, he still caused damage. Vosloo also explains the recalcitrance of Botha towards pay television, though he nevertheless would consider it. There were several instances where Vosloo describes Botha’s telephonic tirades, which Vosloo sometimes took on as a way of letting Botha vent his anger. Vosloo contrasts the irascible Botha to the more controlled Verwoerd. However, his was a frosty gaze by comparison. Vorster, Botha’s successor, was hostile towards the English press. Vosloo describes Mandela, Mbeki and Zuma. These leaders, Vosloo explains, he got to know on another level, no longer as a journalist. Their meetings were always in a courteous and friendly environment. The personal interaction between Vosloo and the different presidents makes for interesting reading for seeing the various and differing dispositions of some of South Africa’s heads of state. FW de Klerk was, for Vosloo, the closest in terms of relationship, and the one with whom Vosloo identified most. Perhaps it was because they were both reformers and of similar age. What one perhaps learns most from these chapters – particularly chapters 13 and 14, but also previous ones – is the closeness with which journalism and politics are associated. They are constituencies that interact for their power. When one moves away, the other is vulnerable; however, out of necessity, this must happen when the once symbiotic relationship becomes intolerable – as with Nasionale Pers when it had to move away from its sibling, the National Party.
Chapter 15: Hit the big story hard! & Chapter 16: Verwoerd sinks our sport
Vosloo explains the psychology of a newspaper. Hit a big story hard – focus on the story, put your energy behind it. In the case of a developing story, see to it that you provide the best information that brings excitement about the topic to the readers. You must work smarter and harder than your closest rivals. Vosloo quotes a colleague: “[I]t’s that fleck of foam on the racehorse’s nose that wins it the race.” Such was Beeld’s DNA. Another quote: “[C]all home and say that they need to keep your food in the warm-oven, you will be working late.” Beeld was competing against four other Afrikaans newspapers in a circulation war (mid-seventies). Vosloo recounts the David Protter case at the Israeli Consulate in Johannesburg in 1975, with Beeld’s hard-hitting journalist team providing the coverage (197 ff). Other interesting stories are recounted where the paper’s journalists exercised this hard-hitting tactic. When Vosloo became editor of Beeld in 1977, he made sure that his team followed cutting-edge stories, presenting them in a lively, contemporary way. How did this apply to events that were the terribly sad ones, such as the Soweto Uprising? Or the Information Scandal? Or the tragic Laingsburg floods (1981)? There are many big stories in South Africa’s and the rest of the world’s history, which Beeld covered with photographs and commentary, that today are an important archive for the past. Launched on 16 September 1974, Beeld is still the leading Afrikaans newspaper, published on six days of the week in the four northern provinces. The weekly Sunday is Rapport, second in print run to The Sunday Times, founded in 1970. No mention of Beeld’s position is complete without also mentioning the fraudulent acts of Nasionale Pers’s rivals, Perskor, who inflated its distribution figures when thousands of copies were deposited into a mine to swell “sales”; this was known as “Syferfontein”. The fact that these copies were not being sold meant that real profitability went down, and ultimately led to the demise of its senior staff and the closure of Perskor’s newspapers. No such compromise was part of Vosloo’s management at Naspers; on the contrary, editor Vosloo adopted the “rolling-up-sleeves strategy”, which employees enjoyed, as to them accrued great job satisfaction. Other strategies were the verligtheid, and news presented in a fresh and lively way (201). A few gimmicks were added: crossword puzzles with substantial prizes, and jackpot bets. Of course, there was the “hitting the big story hard” strategy already referred to, which is a classic recipe for success for any newspaper. This strategy enabled Nasionale Pers to win the so-called press war of the seventies.
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Hit a big story hard – focus on the story, put your energy behind it. In the case of a developing story, see to it that you provide the best information that brings excitement about the topic to the readers. You must work smarter and harder than your closest rivals.
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Chapter 16 is the account of Verwoerd reacting to the prospect of multinational sport participation, in particular regarding the touring side from New Zealand, which included Maori players, who were considered not white (1960). The laws of the country prohibited black people from playing against white South African players. Here again, Vosloo demonstrates his reporter agility by getting to the story first (at that time writing for Dagbreek en Sondagnuus). Vosloo repeats information in the various chapters, and the chapters themselves are not chronological, but he nevertheless writes according to a storyline that he wants to follow and is obviously doing this for a specific reason. An interesting question: did the book’s editor address these issues with the author?
Chapter 17: St Nelson and me, Chapter 18: Robert Mugabe and John Vorster & Chapter 19: Entry into a wider world
Chapter 17 is a rare vignette of a businessman-cum-pressman in the presence of a president in 1999, and how the latter caught the former off guard. This comes as a surprise, as one imagines that journalists such as Vosloo should be prepared for any surprises, although it seems from what Vosloo writes that he managed the whole thing quite well. What is also of immense significance is the stories Mandela related while the party were journeying on a mission together, and the astonishing way Vosloo saw the Mandela magic as he related to all he encountered and touched. Being with Mandela one day as the party travelled to parts of the Northern Cape to meet disadvantaged communities was, for Vosloo, “a journalist’s dream”. We see here two humble men working for the betterment of South Africa. Vosloo was a Mandela not incarcerated. Mandela was a Vosloo tied up. The similarity is not hard to see. By this is meant that both are/were great South Africans who made enormous contributions, humbly and without fuss. Their circumstances differed enormously – the one was from a privileged background by comparison, the other oppressed by the National Party, whose activities Vosloo’s newspaper reported on. Included in the chapter is the account of the meeting between Mandela and PW Botha in secret talks in 1988 and 1989. Vosloo recounts how already then, he carried knowledge of these meetings – the power of a pressman.
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Included in the chapter is the account of the meeting between Mandela and PW Botha in secret talks in 1988 and 1989. Vosloo recounts how already then, he carried knowledge of these meetings – the power of a pressman.
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In chapter 18, Vosloo provides another vignette, this time an interview with Robert Mugabe, the former president of Zimbabwe. The reader will find some rather surprising assertions from Vosloo that are best left for her/him to read. The interview itself took place shortly after Rhodesia became what it is today, Zimbabwe (1980). At the time, Vosloo was editor of Beeld. Vosloo’s aim in the chapter is to show two different African statesmen, Mugabe and Vorster, and their different approaches to issues they faced. For the student of southern African political history, this is rather an interesting read. Transcripts of the interviews between Vosloo and Mugabe, and then with Vorster, are included in the chapter. Vosloo’s conclusion on page 230 is far-sighted.
The next chapter strongly emphasises the book’s title – Vosloo’s resolve to expand the group (Nasionale Pers) across boundaries. He had been the group’s managing director since 1984; ten years later, the group was ready for a listing on the JSE. Vosloo had been working on the expansion, but now he had to step into this “wider world” (231). Four years later, its name changed to Naspers, which is its name to this day. Ensconced in its world – newspapers, magazines, publishing imprints, printing houses and, later on, pay television and other electronic media enterprises – Vosloo was ready to move beyond, outside of its circle. He recounts his role as a board member for two colossal organisations, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Sanlam, and how his participation enabled new dividends to accrue to Naspers. This shows Vosloo’ s expansive experience in South African philanthropic and industrial society. His advice to concentrate on its core business would have saved Sanlam billions of rands had they not ventured into areas other than insurance. Perhaps, in a way, Vosloo was the shoemaker who stuck to his last – although, like the House of Ferragamo, once firmly established, he branched out, as Ferragamo did with its shoes, handbags, scarves, ties and merchandise. We see the Vosloo foresight that Du Toit speaks about in the beginning of the book. The point is well made, because had Nasionale Pers made the wrong move, as certain South African conglomerates did (read the Sanlam story on pages 234-6), never would it be where it is today: a massively successful multimedia operation that stands among the media giants of the world – this is a story that transcends the conception of the human mind as the company’s operations transcend borders and boundaries. Further accounts, where Vosloo declined big offers in industry and even the chancellorship of the University of Stellenbosch, are mentioned. He certainly knew how to play to his limitations (strengths). One reads how Vosloo was strongly supportive of major cultural projects, such as the KKNK in Oudtshoorn, which still enjoys massive support. Other festivals appeared out of the experience of the KKNK, such as the Aardklop Festival. Then came Woordfees in Stellenbosch in 2000. During these times, Vosloo met Anet Pienaar, whom he married in 2001, and more than 22 years later they are still married. Her work in initiating festivals is as rich as Vosloo’s career in the media, as one will read on page 238 onwards. The chapter ends with Vosloo explaining further personal interests and commitments, not least being a trustee of a donkey sanctuary – serving organisations other than just those in journalism, to keep the flame burning in his heart and to transcend borders.
Chapter 20: Does Naspers still have a soul?, Chapter 21: Afrikaans in decline, Chapter 22: Lighter moments & Chapter 23: The future of Naspers in South Africa
One of Naspers’s stalwarts, Izak de Villiers, was the one asking about the company’s soul; ironically, his own right-winged ideologies would ultimately have let Naspers down (too much iron in them). He was responsible for Rapport’s conservative leanings in a verligte Naspers. Vosloo analyses the question about a company having a soul; was NJ Hofmeyr correct when he related to his nephew Willie Hofmeyr, one of the co-founders of Nasionale Pers in 1915 and its first chair, “that the Afrikaans language would only come into its own if it acquired commercial value as long as it offered something of inherent value to readers and was able to stand on its own two feet commercially” (243)? It is uncanny how, 108 years later, this is still true. Much of the success of the company over the last 50 years has been due to Vosloo’s foresight to achieve just that – if I may write metaphorically: to keep the ship afloat and ensure that it is equipped with the most modern engineering and is carrying the correct cargo. Vosloo ensured Naspers’s preparedness for the era of digitisation, as well as its contribution to the transition to a fully democratic South Africa. An understanding of this symbiosis is vital to comprehend the success story of the company, as it is to understand the success story of the partnership between Vosloo and Bekker. They were always seeking “renewal” in a global framework (244). Vosloo continues to speculate whether his company has a soul; it depends what one defines as soul. If it is commitment to one’s staff and readers, participating in a complex country with a difficult past, then, sure, there must be soul. Perhaps the world has changed, and loyalty to the company is not a prerequisite for success. Commitment, integrity, execution, service, community, empathy – words like these are the new soul. Today, Naspers employs 67 000 people directly or indirectly. Readers will surely take careful note of Vosloo’s problematisation of what it means for a company such as Naspers to have a “soul” and work towards a “cause”. The chapter is therefore an important essay for any MD or CEO grappling with what it means to a company to have its employees work for it. Perhaps the best of it all lies in the last few lines, Vosloo writing: “A lifelong journalist like me, however, can still believe in good, thorough, investigative and fearful journalism within new structures – structures that continue to offer opportunities to us as a media organization to exercise our freedom of speech with passion and integrity.” To this, one might add, Vosloo’s own integrity was – for the most part and when it mattered most – ideology-free (if that is ever possible).
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Vosloo continues to speculate whether his company has a soul; it depends what one defines as soul. If it is commitment to one’s staff and readers, participating in a complex country with a difficult past, then, sure, there must be soul. Perhaps the world has changed, and loyalty to the company is not a prerequisite for success. Commitment, integrity, execution, service, community, empathy – words like these are the new soul.
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Die Afrikaners deur Hermann Giliomee (Tafelberg, 2018)
This is a topic (ideology) that Vosloo discusses in the next chapter (chapter 21). It deals with Afrikaans in decline. For further reading outside of this review, there is an article about Afrikaans and Afrikaners. One sees Vosloo divorce the issue from politics, considering the missions of South Africans who were not white people but who spoke Afrikaans in the apartheid era – coloured people, most of whom today speak Afrikaans as their first language. Any language has a right to exist; however, one also needs to read the situation in order to plan for the future. While “English will remain the dominant global lingua franca [a language used by people with different native languages to communicate with each other], … the role it plays in the lives of individuals or in policies will begin to change” (In our rapidly changing world, what is the future of the English language? Mina Pater, assessment research manager, British Council, 18 April 2021). Today, with further challenges to language coming through the existence of apps that translate languages, and the rise of chatbots (ChatGPT), one imagines that new developments will change the dynamics of minority languages, including Afrikaans and other African languages. Naspers has progressed well ahead of any such dangers, stretching its tentacles far and wide across the globe.
The penultimate chapter (chapter 22) consists of anecdotes, howlers and bloopers. There must be very many for the inveterate journalist. There must be equally as many that might be forgotten. The final chapter (chapter 23) addresses the question of Naspers’s future. It is unlikely that such an iconic company will let its hard work disappear into the ether, either locally or abroad. However, much will depend on the freedom of expression. In the UK, under Article 10 of the Human Rights Act 1998, “everyone has the right to freedom of expression” is what is written, but it goes on to say that this freedom “may be subject to formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society”. How do we know that restrictions might not mount? What we do hope for is that the media will be one of the protagonists fighting for the freedom of speech and expression to change society for the better for all its citizens, an idea Vosloo has stood for and fought for his whole life long. Reading his autobiography makes this abundantly clear.
On a personal note, it is a pity that the book appears only in paperback (it also appears as an ebook). I would have liked the hardcover tome on my shelf, as many paperbacks are resold and appear in second-hand bookshops – but then, at least someone else will get the same opportunity as I did to read Vosloo.
Also read:
Jakes Gerwel – poster boy vir die marxisme, Naspers of die liberal elite?
Oor grense: ’n Lewe in die media in ’n tyd van verandering – ’n resensie
The post Across boundaries: a life in the media in a time of change by Ton Vosloo: a book review first appeared on LitNet.
The post <em>Across boundaries: a life in the media in a time of change</em> by Ton Vosloo: a book review appeared first on LitNet.