PETER MAGUBANE

I was being recognized for my skill as a photographer. The first time was in 1958, when I was still on Drum and Tom Hopkinson helped me choose an entry for the South African best pictures of the year. I got two prizes, first and third. That's when I realized that if I worked harder I would be able to be one of the top cameramen in the country. Then in 1963 I was the first black man to have an exhibit in South Africa, at an art gallery in Johannesburg, and the next year I went to London and to Germany to exhibit my pictures. These shows were a success and I went to New York, where Look magazine gave an assignment to Nat Nakasa and me to shoot a story on the [American] South. I was never able to do it; my friend committed suicide. He had left South Africa on an exit permit and gone to Zambia, where he was declared a prohibited immigrant, and though he finally got to the United States he wanted desperately to go back to Africa and had no papers. I had known Nat Nakasa for a long time and his death was a shock to me. I went back to South Africa and started working for the Rand Daily Mail.

-Peter Magubane, Magubane's South Africa (1978).