South Africa Prevents Nieman Fellow From Studying at University

The Union of South Africa has not yet granted a passport to Lewis P. Nkosi, an African journalist who was awarded a Nieman Fellowship this year, according to Louis M. Lyons, curator of the Nieman Fellowships.

Nkosi appears to be a victim of the "oppressive racist policies" of the south African Government, which "penalize their critics, especially if they're black Africans," Lyons noted. White students, he pointed out, have been allowed to leave the country.

"Our best efforts to find out whether Mr. Nkosi can get a passport have failed," said Lyons. The Farfield Foundation, which supported Nkosi's fellowship, inquired without success at the South African Consulate for a clarification of his status.

Nkosi had expected to arrive in Cambridge by late September, and still hopes that, he will eventually receive a passport. He is a young journalist in Johannesburg, where he has sharply criticized the Government's apartheid policy.

In an article entitled "We Are a Sick Nation," Nkosi wrote that a government of "massive coercion" rules South Africa and that "morality itself has been annulled and color morality has been substituted in it splace."

Nkosi intend to study magazine writing and recent developments in mass communications theory. Noting that the Union of South Africa lacks the substantial literary tradition of the United States, he declared that American fellowships can provide invaluable assistance to young African writers.