Photographer John Liebenberg remembered for iconic images

TUYEIMO HAIDULA and WERNER MENGESVETERAN photojournalist John Liebenberg, who died in Johannesburg yesterday, was responsible for some of the most iconic photographs of Namibia’s resistance against apartheid and helped expose the horrors of the war that preceded Namibia’s independence.

These were some of the remarks made yesterday as tributes poured in for Liebenberg following his death at the age of 61.

Liebenberg died in a hospital in Johannesburg yesterday morning. His eldest son, Joseph Liebenberg, told that his father was admitted to the hospital after he broke his leg in a fall on Monday last week.

He also had a spell of ill health last year, when he underwent a hip operation.

Liebenberg was widely known for documenting the Namibian liberation struggle when he was among the first staff members of after the newspaper’s founding in 1985. In addition to documenting the bush war that preceded Namibia’s independence in 1990, Liebenberg also worked as a photographer in Angola during that country’s civil war, and was later employed as a magazine and freelance photographer in South Africa.

‘s founding editor, Gwen Lister, who is currently the chairperson of the Namibia Media Trust, reacted to Liebenberg’s death in a comment on Twitter yesterday: “RIP John Liebenberg. We did not always see eye to eye, but as one of the founding staff members and photographer at The Namibian in the 80s, he was responsible for some of the most iconic images of our country’s struggle against apartheid.”

Liebenberg was appointed as a photographer at in August 1985.

Speaking further on Liebenberg’s work, Lister also said: “He was always a crazy bundle of energy, never still for a moment, his camera always in hand, or sling over his shoulder. When we bought him new Nikons, he was over the moon. With those cameras, he took some of the most iconic images of the country’s struggle against apartheid during the time he worked at The Namibian. We had our differences on some issues, but John’s black and white photographs of a country under siege will stand the test of time.”

Institute for Public Policy Research executive director Graham Hopwood, who was previously a journalist at The Namibian, commented on Facebook: “His photos told the story of what was happening in Namibia at a time when there was barely any international media coverage of the struggle for liberation. His images exposed the horror of the war and the true nature of South African oppression but also encapsulated the vitality and bravery of the people’s struggle inside Namibia (something that is often passed over today).”

After his admission in hospital Liebenberg’s daughter, Jessica, appealed for contributions to a fund created to cover his medical costs, as he did not have medical insurance.

She stated that Liebenberg “took a tumble, at home, on his way out to greet some friends”, and said that between her father’s two prosthetic knees and two prosthetic hips there was “one unhappy femur, which cracked under pressure”.

She also reported: “He was taken to Olive-dale Hospital for an emergency operation, which was a success, though he is still in ICU following difficulties recovering from the morphine. This is an expensive affair, more so than his funds or those of our family can cover alone.”

Yesterday, she announced to donors to the fund that Liebenberg died following complications in his recovery from surgery. She added that the donations received were still valid and would be used to cover his hospital costs, for which on the first day alone a deposit of around N$100 000 was required.

A selection of images from Liebenberg’s archive of photographs was published in a book titled ‘Bush of Ghosts – Life and War in Namibia 1986-90’ in 2010.

Most recently, some of his work has also been exhibited, and he has been doing the social pages with Craig Jacobs at the Sunday Times.

Liebenberg was divorced, and is survived by four children – Joseph (33), Jessica (30), Max (24) and Emile (14) – and a grandson, Leo, aged one.

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