The South African Commercial Advertiser
The history of South Africa’s first independent newspaper begins with themes of dissent and censorship. South African Commercial Advertiser was first published in Cape Town on 7 January 1824, edited by Thomas Pringle (1789-1834) and John Fairbairn (1794-1864), both born in Scotland. Within months it faced the first of several banning orders from Lord Charles Somerset (governor of the Cape Colony 1814-26). Critical from the start of Somerset’s autocratic and corrupt and regime, the newspaper would earn a reputation – especially under Fairbairn – for freedom of speech, including struggles for ‘representative government’ (by Cape citizens), for the abolition of slavery and against the use of the Cape as a convict colony. After Fairbairn’s death in 1864 the newspaper became eclipsed by competitors until its closure in 1879.
