Journalist Lauded for Shedding Light on Asbestos Victims
A South African journalist who recently passed away is being lauded for his undying dedication to exposing the plight of asbestos victims in that country.
According to an article in Business Report, journalist Ronnie Morris “brought passion and a deep sense of social justice to his journalism, especially when writing about workers or communities standing up to big firms.”
“He cared deeply, to the point of taking the side of the underdog,” said columnist Jabulani Sikhakhane. “Many times in recent years, editorial management had to rein him in because he had crossed the line of impartiality in his reporting, but his unflinching empathy for the victims of asbestos poisoning always seemed to overpower him.”
Morris became a friend to many of South Africa’s faceless asbestos victims, exposing their plight and writing about their struggles in his columns. He spent his vacations with the victims of asbestosis in Kuruman in the Northern Cape, the article points out, spending time recording their progress or – in most cases – their lack of progress.
“On those occasions, when he fused his journalism and his deep sense of social justice into one whole, his prose came alive,” says Sikhakhane. “Like this introduction to his October 2006 article on the plight of mine workers: ‘They toiled in the asbestos mines where poor ventilation exposed them to murderous levels of dust and fibers.’”
“The mines have closed down and years later, these former workers become either ill from asbestos-related diseases or die from lung cancer. What, then, is a life worth?” Morris asked.
“We will miss him, but I suspect it’s the people of Kuruman who will miss him most,” said Sikhakhane. “They will miss his journalism of caring, of empathy and a great sense of social justice.”