Sithandiwe Velaphi

Veteran photo-journalist Peter Magubane will be honoured by Walter Sisulu University (WSU) during a graduation ceremony in East London today.

Magubane will be awarded an honorary degree in journalism. WSU will cap about 4000 students from various fields this week. University spokesperson Angela Church said Magubane will be honoured “for his bravery, self-sacrifice and insatiable appetite for exposing the injustices of the apartheid government, and his ongoing contribution to the South African media over the past 50 years.”

Magubane was born in Vrededorp, now Pageview, a suburb in Johannesburg and grew up in Sophiatown. He started taking photographs using a Kodak Brownie box camera.

In 1954 he read a copy of Drum magazine. “They were dealing with social issues that affected black people in South Africa. I wanted to be part of that magazine,” said Magubane.

On Saturday WSU will also confer a doctorate in music education on jazz legend Jonas Gwangwa.

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