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Donald James Woods, CBE (December 15, 1933 – August 19, 2001) was a white South African journalist and anti-apartheid activist. As editor of the Daily Dispatch from 1965 to 1977, he befriended Steve Biko, leader of the anti-apartheid Black Consciousness Movement, and was banned by the government soon after Biko's death, which had been caused by serious head injuries, sustained while in police custody. The government denied giving Biko these injuries, even though police officers admitted to beating Biko to the point of nerve and brain damage. Woods fled to London, where he continued to... MORE

Donald James Woods, CBE (December 15, 1933 – August 19, 2001) was a white South African journalist and anti-apartheid activist. As editor of the Daily Dispatch from 1965 to 1977, he befriended Steve Biko, leader of the anti-apartheid Black Consciousness Movement, and was banned by the government soon after Biko's death, which had been caused by serious head injuries, sustained while in police custody. The government denied giving Biko these injuries, even though police officers admitted to beating Biko to the point of nerve and brain damage. Woods fled to London, where he continued to foster opposition to apartheid. In 1978, he became the first private citizen to address the United Nations Security Council. Woods was born in Capetown, now part of the Eastern Cape, South Africa, where his family had lived for five generations. His ancestors came to South Africa as part of a British, Swedish and Irish group known as the 1820 Settlers. His parents ran a trading post in Transkei, a tribal reserve, which would later be designated a bantustan. As a boy Woods had extensive regular contact with the Bomvana people. He spoke fluent Xhosa and Afrikaans, as well as his mother tongue, English. LESS