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Anton Harber

Autor/a de Diepsloot

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Anton Harber is a respected former editor of the Weekly Mail, a veteran of 40 years of journalism, now Caxton Adjunct Professor of Journalism at Wits University.

Anton Harber’s book is about the rot in South African journalism. He is part of it! And sort of self-flaggelating but not much. His high-minded panels of journalist judges dished out several awards over several years to honour "investigative journalists" whose stories have (years later) been shown to be total lies, planted by the state capturists, organised crime and ANC factions. Like Chippy Olver's book on PE “How to steal a city”, it is often engagingly written, but the whistle-blowing author is blowing the whistle on himself. I am unconvinced that this path of penance allows redemption. Harber conveys the astonishing scale, breadth, depth and long duration of journalistic malfeasance, but he minimises it, with a comparison to Jayson Blair (one reporter, at one newspaper, who faked his stories over one year, before he got caught).

Harber explains the decline in press standards partly by referring to the commercial pressures placed on editors and newsrooms by desperate media owners. He contrasts the “bad” journalists with the very, very good journalists in amaBhungane. He shows how it was brave (and often difficult) journalism that toppled the corrupt Jacob Zuma from the Presidency. This was through the devastating press stories derived from a trove of digitally-preserved emails known as the GuptaLeaks. But this is a retold story. Like the story of Joseph, it bears re-telling and Harber re-tells it with pace and tension. I first read the story of the GuptaLeaks background in “We have a Game Changer”, the wonderful, self-congratulatory, beautifully designed book issued in 2019 by the Daily Maverick. All this path-breaking original source gets from Harber is a meagre footnote to confirm to readers the identity of “Lady Macbeth”, an evil, dishonourable self-obsessed business leader.

Even though I sort of knew about the stories and scandals in the book, and where it all would end, I was often confused by the time lines presented by Harber – jumping forward, leaping back, reporting evidence from April before that of January, crudely creating narrative surprises by suppressing information known in one chapter, so there could be a shocking reveal in another. Acceptable for a thriller writer, not for a journalist posing as an historian. You never get to find out where Anton was when he found out that his panel of judges had awarded coveted Taco Kuiper prizes for investigative journalism to cheats, liars and bought journalists who had accepted planted stories. Maybe this is because it happened more than once.

Difficult book to write, perhaps. Also hard to follow. And the references, of which there are many and which the author found a real chore to insert, don’t always tell you enough to locate a source. Maybe the Wits Journalism School could host a source archive, like that set up by Padraig O’Malley at the Nelson Mandela Foundation. Because these skeletons deserve a closet.
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mnicol | Oct 31, 2020 |
Diepsloot is a well written and researched top journalist's account of a specific burgeoning squatter camp and organized settlement on the outskirts of Johannesburg . The study is about people coming from somewhere else, trying to find a space to call home , start a life in the city, find a job, their problems and the challenges of overcrowded formal and informal living with minimal services . Diepsloot is perhaps home to 200 000 people.
Harber writes in a readable , accessible manner about the people he meets and how they see their lives , hopes and futures at a specific moment in time circa 2010. It is a carefully researched book. Harber has interviewed hundreds of people and he has also talked to the experts who clearly do not have instant solutions and answers to the socio economic conditions that have given rise to a settlement of this type . The wealthy who live in surrounding , nearby suburbs and small holdings ( they chose country life style of living) don't want dense masses of people on their doorsteps , but the poor have nowhere else to go and the city encroaches . Everyone who is here hopes for a better life and that hope includes the possibility of being given an RDP for gratis, formal small home by government . But normal life becomes orderly even in an informal settlement with churches, schools, shebeens, spaza shops

Harber writes with some authority based on meeting the people , he is non judgemental and sees Diepsloot as a microcosm of urban demographic transition and at the cutting edge I of issues around service delivery . Harber keeps on asking questions and one line of enquiry then leads deeper into the murky territory of who is responsible for the provision of services , what to do about xenophobia , how do South Africans and people from other parts of Africa co exist . He gives face and form to the scale of the challenge when one notes that Diepsloot (literal meaning of the name = deep ditch ) is only one of 182 such settlements around Johannesburg, all competing for public services (water, transport, roads, sewerage , schools , clinics .... The list is endless) and resources are beyond limited . No wonder, Johannesburg 's slogan , "a world class African city" now rings so hollow and is so difficult to deliver on and this impacts on both the affluent and the poor .

My own connection with Diepsloot was through my lovely housekeeper, Dorothy * (* name changed to protect identity) who lived in Diepsloot when she arrived from Zimbabwe more than 10 years ago. The transport costs of bringing herself to our home to the old eastern part of Johannesburg was high. Irene lived with us during the week but preferred and chose to have another independent life in Diepsloot. . Her friends too lived in Diepsloot. We were worried about her when the xenophobic waves hit but she remained independent, nonchalant and cheerful. Irene saved and her goal was to buy a house 250 kms from Harare. She has now accomplished that goal. A couple of years ago Irene chose to move to Berea and find a flat in the inner city. She was upwardly mobile. Her was one personal story from Diepsloot and the new migrant pattern to Johannesburg , with a foothold in the city and roots in the country.

Any weaknesses in the book ? It's not a scientific or planning study so lacks neatly tabulated data showing change through time, there is no bibliography, no footnotes and is not in that sense an academic book. The strength is that it is readable, accessible , gives direct voice to people who live in Diepsloot and care about what is happening. It is an essential book that adds to the literature on Johannesburg . Diepsloot cannot be ignored in you are a student of Johannesburg. Informal settlements are as much as part of the city’s history as Sandton , the suburbs and inner Joburg.
… (més)
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Africansky1 | Hi ha 1 ressenya més | Aug 28, 2014 |
Excellent introduction into the complex structure, background and people of a typical exploding township, squatter camp and melting pot in Gauteng. Excellent views and deep insights, because he get's the people talking, sees them where they are living and has a good sense of perception. Great writer!
 
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Wilhelm_Weber | Hi ha 1 ressenya més | Jul 22, 2011 |

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Estadístiques

Obres
7
Membres
33
Popularitat
#421,955
Valoració
3.8
Ressenyes
3
ISBN
9