End of an era as veteran Herald journalists retire

By Bianca Capazorio

THE Herald yesterday bade farewell to two men who have become institutions at the paper, as contributing editor Jimmy Matyu and contributing arts editor Bob Eveleigh retired from active duty.

Matyu started his career as a fully fledged journalist in 1958 at the Golden City Post. He joined the Evening Post in 1979, having also worked for the Weekend World and Drum magazine.

He joined The Herald in 2000 after the Evening Post – a Johnnic Communications afternoon daily – closed its doors. Matyu, who says “writing has always been a part of me”, wrote eyewitness accounts of apartheid violence which characterised the time.

“There are so many stories to tell, but the one I will always remember was the arrest of 474 pupils by the anti-riot police. My story was very different from the police version and when the report came out, the lawyers for those boys used it to get the boys off. That really angered the security police.”

Matyu will continue to write his About Town column for The Herald, for which he won a regional Vodacom Journalist of the Year award this year.

He will also be looking into publishing a collection of these writings, and working on manuscripts for short story and poetry collections and is considering writing his memoirs. Matyu is already the author of Shadows of the Past: Memories of Jabavu Road.

He is the recipient of numerous awards, among them a service excellence award which he received earlier this year from the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality.

He has also been honoured on a wall of fame at the New Brighton Library and was awarded the King Korn Boxing World media award in 1992 for his writings on the sport.

Eveleigh, who has a background in amateur theatre, was appointed arts editor of the Evening Post in 1989, although he had been doing the job since 1985. Before that, he was an insurance broker. “The first story I ever wrote was about Fame, the movie, which was on TV at the time, and I compared it to the earlier Let‘s Put on a Show production,” he said.

He has been writing television, arts and theatre stories ever since. “It‘s what I‘ve always wanted to do.”

Fans of Eveleigh‘s Soap Suds column will be pleased to know that he will continue to write this and make other contributions to the arts pages. He will also continue his association with The Herald Showtime revue, of which he is the executive producer.

He will also be writing a new comments column in which he discusses his views on various TV offerings.

Earlier this year, The Herald won a Basa (Business and Arts South Africa) award for continuous support of the arts through its Showtime Revue and award programme, originally created by Eveleigh.

Paying tribute to the two writers at a farewell party yesterday, editor-in-chief of The Herald and Weekend Post Jethro Goko said Matyu and Eveleigh were shining examples of how journalists should go about their work. “They are still as passionate about their work as they were when they started. In addition, their lives as dedicated news hounds have been marked by a rare and infectious combination of humility and professionalism. There is much to admire in these two veteran journalists,” he said.

Former Evening Post news editor Pat Candido said of Matyu: “In 35 years of working with Jimmy, he has always shown the highest degree of responsibility under extremely difficult times. He faced tear gas, intimidation and even had his house burned down but still managed to maintain his dignity and sense of humour.”

Of Eveleigh she said: “Bob‘s wide knowledge of the arts, and show business in particular, has been put to good use in his columns and crits and he did a tremendous amount to encourage young artists.”

bcapazorio@johnnicec.co.za