It has been nearly a month after Mandela was buried and I had a plan to write about the events that occurred in my newsroom, and in others, in the days following Tata's death. But as the days have passed I have come to realise that I am too loyal to my craft to give away industry secrets. Yes, we all know that Madiba's passing rituals were to some degree planned. But to what extent, even I don't fully understand. What I do know is that his passing was a sad, stressful, but it was also an exciting time for my career.
I was too tired to feel anything until I went to pay my respects to Tata at his capture memorial in Tweedie. I spent the day sobbing and feeling a loss that was so painful it was as if my own father had passed. Madiba had that effect on people.
What hurts me the most about Mandela's passing is the public fiasco that followed the days after his death. It hurts to know that his memorial became a public mockery. But I do believe his funeral was a beautiful tribute to Tata. Perhaps once all the anger and hurt has passed, perhaps then I should share all the background to Mandela's death. For now I will share my personal photos from the week of his death.
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| I am sitting at my desk with a few staff members who returned to redo the newspaper. The clock reads 01:50 and the TV is on eNCA. |
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| My mother and I paid our respects at the Mandela capture site outside Tweedie, on Saturday 7th December, two days after Madiba died. |
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| Our editor in chief Andrew Trench conducting a moment of silence which was undertaken by all South African news agencies at 12:00pm on Friday the 6th December. |
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| This is the team that came back on Thursday evening to redo the newspaper. The Editor Andrew Trench is sitting in front, Robin Crouch , the design editor holds up our front page which he designed and the deputy design editor, Bonnie Parker holds up the insert for which she designed the front page. We dropped all adverts and all of the plugs from the front page and the first four pages, which we dedicated to Madiba. Our masthead remained black until after Mandela's burial on the 15th December. |
