Journalism the Sol Plaatje Way: Is It Still Possible Today?
You are invited to an intergenerational dialogue asking a question that matters now more than ever: to what extent does contemporary media practice still reflect and uphold Sol Plaatje’s legacy?
The event is presented in partnership between the French Institute of South Africa (IFAS) and the National Press Club (NPC), in the spirit of the Black Wednesday anniversary (19 October 1977) and in honour of the 150-year commemoration of Sol Plaatje’s birth.
Editor, reporter and publisher in one
Sol Plaatje did not just write stories. He edited them, printed them, distributed them and funded his newspapers himself, often at great personal cost.
For Plaatje, journalism was not only about reporting events. It was about truth-telling, language preservation and nation-building. He believed a newspaper could build a nation.
Speakers
Dr Otshepeng Moletsane
Setswana lecturer in the Department of African Languages at the University of South Africa (UNISA). His research focuses on Sol T. Plaatje, Setswana orthography and decolonial approaches to African linguistics. He brings the language, scholarship and living legacy of Plaatje into the conversation.
Hamilton Wende
Award-winning journalist, television producer and author with over 30 years of reporting from conflict zones around the world. He has covered more than 15 wars and worked for CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera English, National Geographic and others. He is a winner of the National Press Club Journalist of the Year Award and the 2023 Standard Bank Sikuvile Journalism Award for Columns and Opinion, and the author of 10 books, including House of War and Red Air.
Jana Marx
Award-winning investigative journalist, editorial producer and true-crime author. She wrote The Krugersdorp Cult Killings: Inside Cecilia Steyn’s Reign of Terror and is the journalist behind Showmax’s Devilsdorp and Convict Conman. She has spent years covering South Africa’s most gripping trials and investigations, asking what truth-telling costs in modern journalism.
Event details
Date: Wednesday, 18 November 2026
Time: 17:00 for 17:30
Venue: Dibukafé, 70 Juta Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg
Refreshments will be served
RSVP via the online form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeNuvq3UYmIGNbvhoRgRuf6p0iWPP7SPSpxcy_t--0I4cFeKg/viewform
Or scan the QR code on the poster.