A t 30 years old you should be
hitting your stride, sure of yourself and taking your place in your country,
continent and the world.
That is our dream for the future of South Africa, which turned 16
this week, and for City Press, which will soon celebrate its 30th birthday.
We’ve given ourselves a makeover to reflect our role in the 21st
century and as an expression of our highest aspiration, which is to be South
Africa’s leading Sunday newspaper – a read of black excellence and one we want
to make an essential in all South African homes.
On our journey we ride high on the shoulders of Percy Qoboza, who
was this week posthumously honoured with the Order of Ikhamanga by President
Jacob Zuma. As we celebrate with his family, we vow to honour his legacy of
journalism always grounded in the tenets of justice and human rights for which
he fought so hard, on these very pages, to achieve.
South Africa is a different country today. We are free. We are
about to host a splendid soccer World Cup next month.
While those fearful citizens who hoard baked beans and predict
Armageddon wait for what they believe to be an inevitable race war, we prefer to
live in and celebrate a South Africa making strides in the arts, music, design,
democracy and empowerment.
As a great South African wrote: it is a long walk to freedom and
both empowerment and democracy sometimes feel as if they are just out of
the starting blocks.
City Press’s role has been and always will be to be a place
that reflects honestly the journey to genuine freedom and a much greater shared
prosperity.
We hope you love our new technicolour
dreamcoat and that you always find the values you
hold dear.