From 'Percy’s Pitch' to 'Percy’s Itch' : An intellectual biography of Percy Qoboza

Abstract

This dissertation is an intellectual biography of one of South Africa’s most renowned journalists, Percy Qoboza. Qoboza grew up in the culturally vibrant suburb of Sophiatown and attended the Anglican mission school, St Cyprian’s. The latter of these two seemed to dominate his early beliefs as he initially embarked on studies in theology in Lesotho before returning to South Africa and becoming involved in politics. It was this political involvement that led Qoboza to land a job at The World newspaper, subsequently rising to the position of editor in 1974. Qoboza would then go on to spend nine months at Harvard University as a Nieman Fellow. Qoboza returned before two significant events occurred in South African history, the Soweto Uprising in 1976 and the death of Steve Biko in 1977. His reportage of these two events landed him in jail and his newspaper was banned. Following his release in 1978, Qoboza was appointed as editor of the Post Transvaal, a position he would hold until he left South Africa again in 1980, taking up the position of guest editor of the Washington Star. Qoboza returned to South Africa in 1984 as the associate editor of the City Press rising to the position of editor a year later, a position he would hold until his untimely death in 1988. This dissertation trace’s Qoboza’s intellectual development, and argues that his intellectual and political development were shaped by specific markers and events in South Africa. More importantly, the dissertation argues that his intellectual and political development went from moderate engagement with the apartheid government to severe and harsh criticism as apartheid became more entrenched and oppressive. This shift was also shaped by both domestic and global reactions to apartheid.