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Hail to a fallen hero Nat Nakasa
Whenever the issue of Freedom of expression becomes a debatable subject, it is inevitable that the ghost of Nat Nakasa becomes a symbol that epitomise the scars apartheid had left on South African journalism.
Nakasa is one of a few journalists who valued the essence of Freedom of expression throughout his entire career. His tragic death is still living testimony of how badly he aspired to be heard expressing himself, even if the cost meant injuring the ones he would be living behind.
According to most commentators, prior Nakasa jumped off the high building of his apartment in Harvard, he took a moment and mediated upon the frustrations that tangled him in an alien city. Even though he had colleagues and his writing art to aid him to unwind, at that point in his life nothing else mattered, except his inner freedom to express how deep his longing was for his home in South Africa.
During apartheid South Africa did not have the luxury of sequencing stages of the change process so as to tackle one element at a time. Once agreement had been reached on ‘talks about talks’ towards a negotiated political settlement, attention had to turn to all the elements that needed to be changed to begin the process of closing the long painful chapter in the country’s history. Ram (2008:14)
Therefore a journalist of Nakasa’s calibre did what he had to do and he refused to compromise what he believed in. When he accepted the one way ticket to the USA, he did so with the bravado that someday after the rain has gone he shall return home, indeed he has returned home, the only difference is that his body can no longer leave amongst us, but his name shall.
Nakasa has earned respect for his name and left a legacy in the history of journalism, “When the law said black people couldn’t live in Hillbrow, he moved to Hillbrow. If the law said a black person couldn’t make a pass at a white person-he would do just that”, says Bra Joe Thloloe a veteran journalist who has worked with Nakasa at Drum Magazine.
It is rather sad to learn that contemporary journalism is no longer about what journalists like Nakasa stood for. Journalists in newsrooms have fallen vulnerable to agenda setting trends, and Freedom of expression and Freedom of the media are two democratic elements that are fast eroding due to state laws and policies which have become prevalent over the years. The journalism profession is no longer about pursuing truth instead it has been reduced to playing ‘cute’ in newsrooms to maintain a particular media house reputation.
As a young journalist, I strongly believe that if we learn from journalists like Nakasa we can be the change that South African journalism desperately needs. What made Nakasa stand out from the rest is the fact that when the apartheid regime took black people for granted, he took it upon himself as a journalist and wrote about what frustrated him in order to expose the truth.
Personally I did not know who Nat Nakasa was, but arbitrating from his writings in his magazine titled The Classic which he produced when he was still in the USA, he and I shared a common ground as journalists. His dream was for a better tomorrow for his country, his dream was to tell stories that inspired change, truth and justice.
Considering what Nakasa leaved and possibly died for, I believe if he leaved longer he would want to be there when transformation finally reigned in our land. He would have loved to see Madiba released from prison. He would have been honoured to be amongst the South Africans who were able to cast their votes for the very first time in 1994, he would have loved to share the euphoria when it was announced in 2004 that the World Cup will be hosted in South Africa in 2010. He would have been honoured to see how far South Africa has come after 20 years of democracy.
