Library Weekly

On 10 September, 1921, South African political activist, journalist, founder and editor of the first secular Xhosa language newspaper John Tengo Jabavu died at the home of his son, (D.D.T. Jabavu) at Fort Hare.

John Tengo Jabavu was born on 11 January 1859 near Healdtown on the eastern Cape. He graduated from the Methodist mission school at Healdtown in 1875 and became a teacher at Somerset East. During his teaching career, he began to write articles for a number of South African newspapers and he apprenticed himself to a printer. In 1881, Jabavu was invited by Reverend James Stewart of the Lovedale Mission School to become the editor of the institution's Xhosa-language journal, Isigidimi sama-Xosa ('The Xhosa messenger').

However, the largely religious focus of this missionary-owned newspaper became too restrictive for Jabavu who had a great interest in politics. He left Lovedale when his three-year contract expired. In 1884, with the financial support from two white businessmen, he founded his own newspaper Imvo Zabantsundu ('Opinions of the Africans'). Imvo was to become the voice of liberal politics in the Cape and an advocate of African interests.

But, where the interests of the financiers of Imvo and its black readership conflicted, Jabavu chose to support the former. This happened frequently, from the late 1800s onwards and alienated him from the broader black leadership. The split within the black middle class culminated in the formation of a rival newspaper, Izwi Labantu. The founders of Izwi, including Reverend Rubusana, were pivotal in the initiatives that eventually led to the formation of the South African Native National Congress in 1912 (SANNC, later the ANC). Jabavu refused to be part of the SANNC, objecting to its racial exclusivity. He regained some esteem when the South African Native College at Fort Hare (today the University of Fort Hare) opened in 1916, for which he had lobbied and raised funds for more than a decade.

John Tengo Jabavu died on September 10, 1921. In 2006, the South African government awarded him posthumously the Order of Luthuli. The award recognises his work in journalism and his support of democracy.

Source: Mcebisi Ndletyana: John Tengo Jabavu, in: African intellectuals in 19th and early 20th century South Africa.

Selected publictations

Ambiguities of a decolonising press culture: On South Africa's Imvo Zabantsundu (Native Opinion) / Siyasanga M.Tyali.
In: South African journal of African languages, vol.38 (3), p.303-309, 2018

‘To See Us As We See Ourselves’: John Tengo Jabavu and the Politics of the Black Periodical / Khwezi Mkhize.
In: Journal of southern African studies, vol.44 (3), p.413-430, 2018.

John Tengo Jabavu.
In: African intellectuals in 19th and early 20th century South Africa / Mcebisi Ndletyana. - Cape Town : HSRC Press, 2008, pages 31-44
http://www.thejournalist.org.za/pioneers/john-tengo-jabavu-conflicted-fi...

Vukani bantu! : the beginnings of black protest politics in South Africa to 1912 / André Odendaal. - Cape Town [etc.] : Philip, 1984

The black press in South Africa and Lesotho : a descriptive bibliographic guide to African, coloured and Indian newspapers, newsletters and magazines 1836-1976 / Les Switzer; Donna Switzer. - Boston, MA : Hall, c1979
http://blackpressresearchcollective.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Black...

Jabavu and the Anglo-Boer War / L.D. Ngcongco.
In: Kleio, vol.2 (2), p.6-18, 1970

The life of John Tengo Jabavu : editor of Imvo Zabantsundu, 1884-1921 / Davidson D. T. Jabavu. - Lvedale, South Africa : Lovedale Institution Press, [1922?]
https://archive.org/details/lifeofjohntengoj00jaba/mode/2up

Timeline of South African newspaper editors via Wikidata and DBpedia