Rewind back to The BEAT’s last edition, and you should remember we carried a front page story with the headline “Mayhem near koppie”.
The story was based on a horrific multiple vehicle crash which culminated in the loss of six lives.
Reporters Lizzy Bapela and Mzamane Ringane also made reference to no less than 40 fatalities along the stretch of road between Kranskop and Mookgophong, all due to road accidents.
Listening to a lot of people in the region, conspiracy theories have become inevitable, with the mythology around Thaba ya Modimolle, or Kranskop, taking centre stage.
Believe me, many of us are still deeply superstitious about what is happening within our midst.
As far as the Kranskop mythology goes, many people believe there is an age-old superpower – perhaps in the form of a human spirit or spirits — in the vicinity of Kranskop.
This formidable superpower, we are told, was from the onset not happy with the construction of the N1 past the rolling slopes of Kranskop.
Those of us who pretend to be slumland aristocrats are made to believe this superpower was lashing back by means of road accidents.
Believe this, you shall believe anything, goes the title of a thriller by the late James Hadley Chase.
This brings us to the role of The BEAT, or Daily Sun for that matter, in terms of reporting on people’s ancient belief systems.
At The BEAT I have personally — rightfully or wrongfully — discouraged reporting around witchcraft and other imaginary creepy-crawlies, especially when such journalism had the potential to
place people’s lives in danger.
Remember how frail senior citizens continue to be accused of practicing witchcraft especially in the northernmost parts of Limpopo?
Daily Sun — arguably one of the best-selling newspapers nationwide — continued to seemingly thrive on reporting such as “gogo this” (granny this) and “gogo that” (granny that).
My personal journalism role-models, such as the late Zwelakhe Sisulu, Doc Bikitsha and to a lesser extent, the journalist-turned-politician Hellen Zille, say reporting on witchcraft dated back
to the days of Zonk magazine and the Golden City Post (now City Press).
Those who reported or continue to report on witchcraft have argued that they simply give readers what they want.
When my erstwhile editor, the late Deon du Plessis, toyed around with the idea of founding the Daily Sun, he tried to convince me that the publication would be targeted at the lowest end of
the black market.
With this in mind, Deon’s untapped marketplace meant black people who never read newspapers before.
With due respect, Deon never made mention of witchcraft or the feared little tokoloshe in his plans.
— The BEAT
