THE acrimonious verbal war between President Nelson Mandela and senior black journalists has ended in a ceasefire, with both sides backing off but keeping their powder dry.
A cessation of hostilities was negotiated at a four hour meeting at the national headquarters of the ruling African National Congress, described by a newspaper columnist, Jon Qwelane, as a gruelling experience he would not like to repeat. It is widely known that three journalists were in the front line of Mr Mandela's wrath: Khulu Sibiya, editor of City Press, Qwelane, a columnist on the Saturday Star, and Kaiser Nyatsumba, political editor of the Star. City Press is owned by Nasionale Pers, a powerful Afrikaans publishing company. The Saturday Star and the Star are controlled by Mr Tony O'Reilly, chairman of Independent Newspapers Plc.
Proprietorship is pertinent because of Mr Mandela's accusation that the black journalists who offended him were pursuing a "secret agenda" and doing the "dirty work" of white owners for reasons of career advancement.
The journalists contend that they were merely reflecting the feelings of black people that he had devoted too much time to reassuring whites and not enough to promoting black interests. Mr Nyatsumba is believed to have deeply offended Mr Mandela with an article entitled: "Even St Mandela has clay feet."
An editorial in The Star accused Mr Mandela of tainting himself by implicitly attacking the integrity of The Star's black journalists, which it described as part of the honourable brotherhood of black journalists who were "neither frightened by apartheid's tyranny nor bought by its gold".
After the meeting at which their differences were discussed Mr Mandela and the ANC both made conciliatory statements. Mr Mandela gave the assurance that he respected press freedom. The spokesman for the journalists, Thami Mazwai, noted approvingly that they had been able to discuss their differences with Mr Mandela, instead of being "locked up" as they would have been under the apartheid regime.