Where it all started
Sowetan's predecessor, the Bantu World, began in 1932, with moderate ANC leader Selope Thema as editor. It was read by the mission-educated black elite.
Thema, the doyen of black journalism in his era, and his coterie of friends, called themselves the "New Africans" and consciously distanced themselves from the lower classes, projecting an image of being more urbane and refined.
Under the editorship of Percy Qoboza, The World, as it was now called, became widely respected for providing more vigorous political coverage. The paper was banned along with 18 Black Consciousness organisations in 1977 for its sympathetic reports of the Soweto uprising the year before.
It was The World which published the now famous "Hector Peterson" picture, which has become an icon of the 1976 uprising. The paper was relaunched almost immediately as Post, which was in turn closed down in 1980 when a protracted strike by journalists and general
workers gave the government the opportunity to cancel its registration.
In 1981, Sowetan, which was until then a weekly free sheet, was transformed into a daily paper, aimed at the same readership as Post.
Aggrey Klaaste was appointed editor of Sowetan in 1988 by the Argus group, then owners of the paper as well as a number of other English newspapers.
In the early 1990s, Klaaste and his assistant editor, Sam Mabe, embarked on the "Nation Building" concept, which became Sowetan's trademark.
The Sowetan is now owned by the empowerment group Nail.
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