The World (South African newspaper)

The World, originally named The Bantu World, was the black daily newspaper of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is famous for publishing Sam Nzima's iconic photograph of Hector Pieterson, taken during the Soweto uprising of 16 June 1976.

The Bantu World was founded in April 1932 for an intended audience of black middle-class elite by Bertram Paver, a white ex-farmer. Paver modeled The Bantu World after British tabloids. The newspaper had a national distribution, in contrast to the primarily local reach of previous black-owned papers. Half of the 38 shareholders were black Africans by the end of 1932. Each issue consisted of about 20 pages, of which 13 were written in English, and the rest in a variety of indigenous languages. The caption for an image from historian Luli Callinicos' Working Life (1987) suggests that The Bantu World operated out of the western Johannesburg suburb of Westdene.

The Bantu World's first editor was Victor Selope-Thema who served until 1952. The newspaper was the first in South Africa to place news rather than advertisements on the front page. A women's page was introduced in October 1932. The paper ran a beauty competition from November 1932 to March 1933 for which readers could vote. A favourite debate in the paper during the 1930s was what constituted the "African modern girl". Similar discussions of feminine beauty intended to attract female readers.

In June 1933 the Argus Printing Company (established 1889) took over Paver's company, Bantu Press Limited, and so also the ownership of The Bantu World. Argus monopolized the black press through its 10 weekly papers.

The World merged with Ilanga lase Natal (Natal Sun) in 1935, under Selope-Thema's editorship. Ilanga lase Natal was a Zulu-language newspaper founded in 1903 by John Langalibalele Dube in Durban. The staff of the combined newspaper included Herbert Isaac Ernest Dhlomo (1903-1956), Zulu educationist, author, poet, playwright, and former Librarian-Organiser of The Carnegie Non-European Library in Germiston, near Johannesburg. Dhlomo had worked at Ilanga lase Natal from 1941.

Under Dr. Jacob Nhlapo, editor from 1953 to 1957, the name of the newspaper was changed to its current name, The World. During the 1950s The World focused on sex, soccer, and crime. After the death of Nhlapo in 1957, the newspaper was without an editor for a period of time.

After the Sharpeville massacre, The World provided relatively non-political coverage until 1974. M. T. Moerane, editor from 1962-1973, admitted as much in his farewell speech. This was partly because the Argus company employed a white editorial director to curtail black editors. In similar fashion, Drum (founded 1951), and Golden City Post (started in 1955), were also aimed at black readers yet it had white editors.

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