MAIMANE, Arthur 1932-2005

(John Arthur Mogale Maimane)

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born October 5, 1932, in Pietersburg, South Africa; died June 28, 2005, in London, England. Journalist and author. Maimane was a daring South African reporter for Drum magazine who for many years lived in exile in England because of his critical reporting and a controversial novel he wrote. Born in Lady Selborne township, a region that also was the home of such famous South Africans as Desmund Tutu and Oliver Tambo, Maimane was the son of a clergyman. He entered journalism as a young reporter for Drum in 1952, a time when apartheid—the separation of blacks and whites in South Africa and an era of racial oppression—was still in effect. It was a dangerous time for reporters, evidenced by the killing of Maimane's mentor and Drum's editor, Henry Nxumalo, in 1957. Maimane was in danger, too, for reporting on the doings of underground criminals, even though he tried to conceal his identity by writing under the name Arthur Mogale in his articles. Also writing for the Golden City Post, where he was news editor until 1958, Maimane found refuge in Ghana by fleeing to Accra and writing for the western edition of Drum from 1958 to 1960. Eventually, the situation became dangerous for him in Ghana, as well, and Maimane moved to London, England, in 1961. There he became the first black journalist for the Reuters news agency, as well as for the British Broadcasting Corporation. In 1973, he joined the Independent TV News network. When apartheid finally ended and Nelson Mandela was elected president of South Africa, Maimane returned, joining the Weekly Mail as its first black reporter, and writing a column for the Sunday Independent. From 1994 to 1997, he was managing editor of the Johannesburg Star. He went back to England in 2000, however, where he became a news consultant and focused on writing fiction. His early novel, Victims (1976), which had been banned in South Africa, was published in 2000 as Hate No More and received critical praise in his homeland. Maimane was also the author of the play Hang on in There, Nelson, which was first produced in Pretoria, South Africa, in 1996.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Guardian (London, England), July 15, 2005, p. 27.

Independent (London, England), July 6, 2005, p. 33.