The Golden City evolution into POST

BANNING ORDERS

- KIRU NAIDOO

1950s beauty queen Norah Moslookokoko showed off the first edition of the Golden City Post to hit the streets. | UKZN Special Collection

WHEN the Golden City Post burst on to the newsstands on Sunday, March 13, 1955, it brought a wicked sparkle to the face of South African journalism.

The racy and pioneering tabloid targeting mainly South Africa's growing Indian community was the brainchild of the eccentric media entrepreneur, Jim Bailey.

He also founded Drum magazine in 1951 which carried the stories of black South Africans to the rest of the African continent. Bailey was astute enough to read the business environment that the white market was saturated while black readers offered fresh prospects for expansion.

The paper was initially produced in Johannesburg’s Drum’s offices by Drum staffers under the editorship of Cecile Eprile.

The Golden City Post filled a hunger for news about the lives of ordinary and not so ordinary people that was distinct from the traditional news media. The paper hit the streets amid the growing tensions of apartheid. Journalists tangled with political issues poking fun at absurdities like the Immorality and Mixed Marriages acts.

Photographers found themselves in the unlikeliest of places capturing images that meticulously documented the social and political history of the period.

The POST quickly became the bestselling tabloid of its kind.

In an interview with Stefanie Lotter, an internationally-renowned photographer, Gopal Naransamy captured the scene at one of freedom Struggle hero, Joe Slovo’s parties: “As usual I was clicking at the couples on the dance floor. The large dining room and lounge improvised with the connecting doors widely open, resembled an original makeshift dance floor accompanied by settees and padded sofas to make the walls more relaxing. There was plenty of liquor and beer, and for some of the ladies, tea and biscuits.