Condolences are pouring in for media legend Joe Latakgomo (78), who passed away at Kalafong Hospital in Pretoria yesterday.

Latakgomo donned many hats in the media industry over the years. He was the founding editor of Sowetan, served as public advocate at the Press Council of South Africa from 2018 to 2020, and earlier worked as a journalist in the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan and Hungary.

Apartheid-era comparisons

The Star sub-editor Nhlanhla Mbatha previously drew comparisons between Latakgomo and an apartheid activist.

“In yesteryear politics, Nelson Mandela was the face of the ANC from the prison walls, while Oliver Tambo was keeping the fires burning in exile. I draw parallels and dare say that if [Percy] Qoboza was the Mandela of the press, Latakgomo must have been the Tambo of the Fourth Estate.”

Latakgomo’s immediate superior at The World, Percy Qoboza, was detained in a headline-grabbing incident at the newspaper’s offices on October 19, 1977, an episode that later became symbolic of press freedom. Latakgomo stepped in to lead the newsroom.

A journalist’s journalist

Press Council member Joe Thloloe said Latakgomo was a ‘journalist’s journalist’.

“He was running The World as editor when Soweto drew the line in the sand in 1976. Percy, who got the honours for this, was out of the country on a Nieman Fellowship that year. Joe shepherded the young Willie Bokabas and the Sam Nzimas as they recorded the story of 1976.”

Thloloe added that ‘Joe wasn’t imprisoned like the rest of us that year’ and that ‘South Africa carries the imprint of his foot’.

Latakgomo was awarded a Nieman Fellowship to attend Harvard University in the United States in 1991. He had a love for soccer and was inducted into the SAB Sports Journalists Hall of Fame in 2009. In 2011, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the South African Football Association.

Press Council tributes

Case manager at the Office of the Press Council, Khanyi Ndaweni, described Latakgomo as a kind and caring colleague who treated everyone with respect and warmth.

Press Council executive director Phathiswa Magopeni said he understood that robust, independent media accountability is the lifeblood of democracy.

“We honour and celebrate his contribution to strengthening the credibility, integrity and public trust in our media accountability and oversight system.”

Current Press Council public advocate Thabo Leshilo, who belongs to the generation of journalists that followed Latakgomo and Thloloe, described him as a guiding figure to many in the profession.

He credited ‘Bra Joe’ with demonstrating an exceptional command of journalism and the courage to confront the apartheid state, saying his example motivated some people to pursue the profession.

In a 2010 address at a Media Freedom Day event, Latakgomo reflected on the core duty of the press.

“The responsibility of the media is to report what citizens or government, or both, may not want to hear, as well as what they do want to hear. Newspapers dare not sanitise the news and thereby play God… and exclude news that may be perceived to be detrimental to the government or the ruling party.

“No doubt, we sometimes see our private picture of the world as the whole truth and nothing but the truth. For this reason, we want to demand [that] everyone see the world the way we see it.”

Watch a video of Latakgomo:

*The article has been amended since it was first published, to include Latakgomo’s age

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