Pretoria – President Cyril Ramaphosa has paid tribute to former Cape Times Editor Tony Heard who passed away recently.
In a statement, President Ramaphosa said South Africa has lost a champion of human rights, non-racialism, and the role of the media in reflecting and shaping society.
Heard passed away on 27 March 2024 at the age of 86, following a short illness.
“President Ramaphosa offers his deep condolences to Mr. Heard’s partner, Ms. Jane Porter, his children Vicki, Janet, Pasqua, and Dylan and their partners, and all members of the extended family,” said Vincent Magwenya, Spokesperson to the President on Thursday.
Heard was a distinguished journalist who had a long association with the Cape Times newspaper, from his debut as a junior reporter to his appointment as Editor in 1979.
Among his many distinctions, Tony Heard was awarded, in 1985, the Pringle Award by the South African Society of Journalists and the Golden Pen of Freedom Award by the World Association of Newspapers.
The award was for his publication of a discreetly planned and courageous interview with the then-banned African National Congress leader Oliver Tambo.
The interview led to Tony Heard’s arrest by security police for his alleged contravention of the Internal Security Act.
While the state pursued a case against him, he was ultimately presented with a small fine.
Heard was a media consultant to the Rector of the University of the Western Cape, the late Professor Jakes Gerwel, during South Africa’s political transition.
Under the presidency of Nelson Mandela, he was a special advisor to Kader Asmal, who served as Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry and Minister of Education.
Heard also served as a special adviser in the Presidency until January 2010.
President Ramaphosa said: “Tony Heard was brave in his resistance to apartheid and was an influential thought leader who challenged the conscience and beliefs of South Africans who benefited from apartheid.
“He deployed significant newsroom resources to expose the brutality of the apartheid state and to portray the everyday suffering of oppressed and impoverished communities.
“In so doing, he mobilised and nurtured a generation of journalists who took a clear stand on critical issues in the country and scurried between typewriters and teargas to give a voice to those whose pleas and outcries were muzzled and repressed by the state.
“He inspired quality journalism which enriched the profession and media audiences alike and contributed to the inevitable momentum that led to our freedom.
“We value the contributions he made as well as a senior advisor to government in his later years.
“May his soul rest in peace.”
