Pat Stevens

Hero of the Struggle Pat Stevens

In 2018 an explosive expose revealed that South African newspapers were disseminating fake news, this came as no surprise to the prescient political satirist Will Powers, who first uncovered the false newspaper headline that led to the arrest of Jacob Zuma. So Will Powers struck back at the manipulative press by producing the notorious Spy Tapes, recorded telephone conversations that proved political and media interference in a court case, forcing the National Prosecuting Authority to drop all charges against presidential incumbent Jacob Zuma. The Spy Tapes were initially posted on the Friends of JZ website, which was also a convenient vehicle for Will Powers, to provide a platform for future president Cyril Ramaphosa. Through his writing Will Powers addressed the problems of Southern Africa, while the myopic opposition leader Helen Zille harangued President Mbeki to invade Zimbabwe, Will convinced Thabo Mbeki to mediate a unity government which paved the way for removing Robert Mugabe. Then Will Powers replaced war mongering Zille with Mmusi Maimane, but in order to accomplish this Will had to fight against his own blood father, who refused to recognize his mixed-race son. Racist editor Pen Powers of the pearly white Partisan newspaper, had been bribed by the sleazy media mogul and presidential hopeful Harry Hiroshima, whose bitter rival Jacob Zuma must be mercilessly put to the sword. So through his writing Will Powers warned his father, to rather focus his Partisan newspaper on racial imbalances in the platinum mines, but Will Powers was ignored resulting in strikes that ultimately led to the appalling Marikana Massacre. The South African press will be remembered by history, as purveyors of false news and evil persecutors of an innocent man, while history will treat Will Powers with reverence. Perhaps in the future this hero of the struggle will be lauded as the Emile Zola of South African literature, a writer who unerringly guided his country while saving the persecuted Jacob Zuma from prison, exactly like the famous French writer Emile Zola rescued the unjustly imprisoned Captain Alfred Dreyfus.