Arriving with a tennis racquet at work Nat Nakasa was bound to write his own history in a newsroom dominated by black journalistic giants.
He had to measure his talent against that of Henry Nxumalo, Can Themba, Peter Magubane, Ernest Cole, Todd Matshikiza and William (Bloke) Modisane, to name but a few.
Johannesburg, where he was employed by Drum magazine, was a battleground on which he fought to tell the story of a South Africa defined by black segregation and white privilege.
He was awarded a Nieman Fellowship in 1964 but the apartheid government refused him the passport he needed to travel to the US to take it up. As a fighter and believer in freedom of thought, Nakasa took an exit permit and embarked on his personal struggle to tell the world about the troubled South Africa.
Alone and depressed in the US, we are told, Nakasa died after falling from a high-rise building in New York.
As we welcome this son of our soil back home we are happy to report that his voice and ideals are alive in a free South Africa. His sacrifices have helped nourish the media we have today.
The situation is not perfect, but the voice of the people is not suppressed. Though often tempted to shut the door on free expression, our media still fights to keep the fire of freedom burning.
It is important that the ANC appreciates the freedom of the press. The politicians who argue that it should be curtailed are blinded by the power they hold.
The proponents of apartheid thought that by burning, jailing and killing freedom fighters they would silence the voice of liberation.
Nakasa can rest in peace because he is back home where he belongs.
Nat, today we call on another giant, Don Mattera, to tell you that we will always remember to call on your grave so that you can
"rise to tread familiar paths
To see broken chains
Fallen prejudice
Forgotten injury
Pardoned pains."
Today we add another chapter to the story of your life.
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