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Joe Thloloe

Nat Nakasa Awards

SANEF Announces Winners of the Nat Nakasa Awards for Courageous Journalism 2023

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SANEF Chairperson Sbu Ngalwa addressing the Nat Nakasa Awards.

 

17 September 2023

On the 16th of September 2023, the South African National Editors’ Forum (SANEF) gathered in Sandton to celebrate the exceptional winners of the 25th Nat Nakasa Awards for Courageous Journalism.

The Nat Nakasa Awards recognise a special element in journalism – courage, fearlessness, and an unyielding commitment to serving the people of South Africa despite insurmountable obstacles.

The Nat Nakasa Award for Media Integrity was presented to the news agency GroundUp’s journalists, Daniel Steyn and Marecia Damons. The award for the Nat Nakasa Award for Community Media went to Anton van Zyl, the publisher of the Limpopo Mirror and the Zoutpansberger.

Sbu Ngalwa, SANEF chairperson expressed his delight thus: “Your courage and dedication inspire us all. Courage and bravery are not easy to come by. This year, our distinguished panel of judges has chosen to honour individuals whose work embodies these principles.”

“These awards stand as a testament to the unwavering dedication of journalists who go above and beyond in their pursuit of truth, even in the face of daunting challenges,” he says.

SANEF was honoured to have Justice Zukisa Tshiqi of the Constitutional Court, a member of the South African Women Judge’s Association, also involved in various mentorship programs, as our keynote speaker. Her theme of the absolute importance of truth and transparency both in the media and judiciary was inspiring and this will undoubtedly inspire the next generation of courageous journalists.

Judge Tshiqi said; “The Constitutional Court has recognised that the work done by the journalists is very crucial in our democracy … journalists contribute in ensuring that there is transparency and accountability in the exercise of public and private power.”

The awards’ sponsor, Gaffar Hassam, Group Executive – Corporate Affairs, SanlamAllianz, noted, “Sanlam’s partnership with SANEF is on its 8th year and continues to grow in recognition of Sanlam’s ‘s commitment to media freedom.”

“Nat’s sense of justice was so strong that in his pursuit of truth, he chose exile from his native land, travelling to New York on a Niemann Fellowship, without a passport. Just an exit permit. An exit permit from his country of birth meant he was banished and unable to return home and we will continue to honour his legacy,” he told the audience.

In their citation Anton van Zyl, the judges remarked, “It is very difficult to operate in the space of community media. There is not that much money to make because advertisers focus on commercial media to reach out to consumers. The challenges remain despite the government having made promises that part of its advertising should go to community media. When a journalist like Anton van Zyl, who is the publisher of the Limpopo Mirror and the Zoutpansberger, continues to make a difference in this space, we need to commend them for the good work.”

Those who have worked closely with Van Zyl attest to his generosity in sharing his extensive knowledge with other small community-based publishers. He has been a driving force in the Association of Independent Publishers’ sustainability committee.

The judges’ citation of Daniel Steyn and Marecia Damons reads, “When the Thabo Bester story broke, it was unbelievable. We congratulate GroundUp‘s efforts not to give up on the suspicions that Bester was not dead but living large after escaping from jail. He faked his death. The GroundUp stories were so accurate in reflecting the difference that media can make in life. The story touched on bravery as well as social justice.

“Daniel Steyn and Marecia Damons rocked the boat of corruption that happened at Mangaung Correctional Centre, which involved senior officials managing the prison. Since the breaking of the story, the government arrested several officials at the centre for assisting Bester to escape. His girlfriend, Dr. Nandipha Magudumane, assisted him to fake his death and escape from jail. They skipped the country, were arrested in Tanzania, and brought back to South Africa and now stand trial.

“We need to applaud Daniel Steyn and Marecia Damons for the sterling work of exposing this prison corruption without fear or favour.”

Crystal Orderson, one of the judges, expressed, “It is again a pleasure for the four of us – Peter Sullivan, Joe Thloloe, and I, Chrystal Orderson and Moipone Malefane – to go through the entries and again marvel at the high quality of journalism that South Africa continues to produce.

“This is done under difficult economic conditions. We still have journalists who show integrity and report fearlessly, display a commitment to serve the people of South Africa despite insurmountable obstacles, resist censorship, and show courage in making information available to the SA public.

Ngalwa, SANEF chair, also presented our in-house Stephen Wrottesley Award for honouring dedicated members to community media subcommittee chairperson Dunisani Ntsanwisi. This award is bestowed on a SANEF member who shows commitment, and passion to Sanef.

He was awarded for playing a key and definitive role in Sanef’s Community Media Digitisation project for always putting the issues and interests of community media on the agenda; playing a key role in the inaugural Sanef Indigenous Languages Seminar and ensuring that the Association of Independent Publishers continues to be an active and relevant organisation.

 The awards were sponsored by  Sanlam 

Note to Editors:

The South African National Editors’ Forum (SANEF) is a non-profit organisation whose members are editors, senior journalists, and journalism trainers from all areas of South African media. We are committed to championing South Africa’s hard-won freedom of expression and promoting quality, ethics, and diversity in the South African media. We promote excellence in journalism through fighting for media freedom, writing policy submissions, research, and education and training programmes. SANEF is not a union.

Sanlam is the proud sponsor of the Nat Nakasa Awards.

For more information please contact:

  • Sbu Ngalwa – SANEF Chairperson (073) 404-1415
  • Nwabisa Makunga – SANEF Deputy Chairperson (082) 555-1972
  • Qaanitah Hunter – SANEF Secretary-General
  • Tshamano Makhadi – Treasurer-General (082) 223 0621
  • Makhudu Sefara – SANEF Media Freedom Chair (079) 177-2134
  • Judy Sandison – SANEF KZN Convenor (082) 571-3334
  • Dr. Glenda Daniels – SANEF Gauteng Convenor (083) 229-9708
  • Rochelle De Kock – SANEF Eastern Cape Convenor (072) 969-8028
  • Reggy Moalusi – SANEF Executive Director (071) 682-3695

 

5 (2)

SA Must Guard Sanctity of Press Freedom, says Thloloe

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Stalwart Joe Thloloe (middle) with Sowetan journalist Penwell Dlamini and photographer Antonio Muchave

30 September 2020

On 24 September 2020 Sowetan published this article written by Penwell Dlamini which is an interview of stalwart Joe Thloloe and Chairman of Aggrey Klaaste Trust [AKT].

SA needs to protect press freedom now more than ever as there are still stubborn resemblances of what the country used to be in the past despite gains made in the democratic era.

This is the view of legendary journalist Dr Joe Thloloe which he shared with Sowetan as he reflected on the current state of the media and its role in nation-building.

Thloloe, who used his pen and notebook to fight the apartheid government, said real liberty is about the freedom of the press.

“Free media is the foundation of democracy. Democracy means that people have their say and they are not scared of saying what they believe and what they want… It is in that exchange of ideas that society flourishes. We need it today more than we’ve ever needed before,” Thloloe said.

He said the role of journalists is critical 26 years into democracy as some of the evils there during the apartheid era can still be seen in a free SA.

“When we got to 1994, we got into a very euphoric state where we thought, at last, we have achieved what we wanted to achieve. But when you look around in society, it is a very sad story. We have regressed rather than progressed.

Therefore, the things that we fought for, we still need to fight for even today.

“People are going to bed starving. Coronavirus has just made it a little worse … That fight for a true democracy continues.”

Thloloe is one of the high-profile speakers who will take part in a colloquium scheduled for October 19 which will discuss the state of the media in SA. The colloquium has been organised by Sowetan in partnership with the Aggrey Klaaste Trust and is supported by Arena Holdings, Wits University, and the SA National Editors Forum. The late Klaaste was the editor of Sowetan who championed the values of nation-building in the newspaper and society at large.

Thloloe said when Klaaste introduced the concept of nation-building some in the newsroom laughed at him as they felt what was needed was the demolition of an apartheid system before anything was built.

“Aggrey Klaaste had the foresight to see that we are going to need to build a nation and he made it the responsibility of each individual. [He taught that] each individual is responsible for building the nation,” he said.

Thloloe, who was arrested four times as a journalist by the apartheid government, said most of the problems faced by society today are a result of the lack of ethos of national building.

“Today ’s morality is ‘I come first. My pocket is the most important pocket’. We’ve forgotten the old saying which is umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu [a person survives because of other people]

“We’ve forgotten the old saying that you should do to others as you would have them do to you. We are now a very materialistic society and that is our tragedy,” he said.

 

Sustainability & Media Relief Fund 1

Urgent Deadline for SANEF Media Relief Fund – Round Two

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The South African National Editors’ Forum (SANEF) would like to remind journalists that the deadline for applications to our Media Relief Fund is Wednesday 30 September 2020. We encourage all journalists who have lost their jobs and income as a direct result of the Covid-19 national disaster to submit their applications with all relevant and supporting documentation.

Working in conjunction with the Social Justice Initiative (SJI), we wish to report that in our first round, we received 320 applications and approved 227 journalists for payments. Journalists received a small donation of R5000 each to purchase necessities like food and clothing.

SANEF opened the second round for deserving journalists on 8 September calling on everyone to spread the word, especially to journalists who lost their jobs in the hard-hit community media sector including print and broadcasting.

In terms of the criteria we have called for the following people to apply:

Practising journalists who have not received retrenchment packages, freelance or contract journalists. People need to have been retrenched or had their contracts cancelled from the date of the implementation of the national lockdown on March 26th 2020 – or thereafter – as a result of COVID-19. Photographers, print, broadcast and multimedia journalists are all included.

Please see a link to the application form here.

SANEF wants to warmly thank its corporate, donor and individual partners on this project. We received our first donation to kick-start the fund from MTN South Africa. This was followed by funds from First Rand, Yellow Woods, Allan Gray, Nedbank, Standard Bank, Open Society Foundation and Old Mutual. We have also received donations from concerned individuals, including several journalists and ex-journalists who have been worried about the plight of their colleagues. We have raised an over little R3 million so far.

Further, we would like to thank our team of industry stalwarts who have made up our independent panel of adjudicators – including Mathatha Tsedu, Joe Thloloe, Wandile Fana and Melody Emmett as well as Anlo Financial Services. The panel has played a critical role in adjudicating all applications and Anlo has played an important role in the initial processing of all documentation.

We again remind everyone that the deadline is 30 September.

Note to Editors: The South African National Editors’ Forum (SANEF) is a non-profit organisation whose members are editors, senior journalists and journalism trainers from all areas of the South African media. We are committed to championing South Africa’s hard-won freedom of expression and promoting quality, ethics and diversity in the South African media. We promote excellence in journalism through fighting for media freedom, writing policy submissions, research and education and training programmes. SANEF is not a union.

For more information please contact:

  • Sbu Ngalwa – SANEF Chairperson (073) 404-1415
  • Adriaan Basson – SANEF Deputy Chairperson (082) 562-2113
  • Mahlatse Mahlase – Secretary-General (083) 399-2852
  • Nwabisa Makunga – Treasurer (082) 555-1972
  • Mary Papayya – SANEF Media Freedom Chair (082) 379-4957
  • Judy Sandison – SANEF KZN Convenor (082) 571-3334
  • Katy Katopodis – SANEF Gauteng Convenor (082) 805-7022
  • Chiara Carter – SANEF Eastern Cape Convenor (082) 659-9162
  • Kate Skinner – SANEF Executive Director – (082) 926-6404

 

Sustainability & Media Relief Fund 1

SANEF Announces Launch Of Relief Fund For Journalists

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The South African National Editors’ Forum (SANEF) is launching a relief fund for journalists who have lost their livelihoods as a direct result of the COVID-19 national disaster. The Social Justice Initiative (SJI) is acting as a fiscal host for the fund and will be playing an oversight role to ensure that all funds are fairly and transparently distributed.

Mahlatse Mahlase, SANEF’s chairperson says, “In making the announcement today, we want to express our warm gratitude to MTN SA for their contribution of R500 000 to start the fund and for their further commitment to lobby other corporates to contribute”.

To process the applications, SANEF has set up a team that includes media stalwarts Mathatha Tsedu and Joe Thloloe, Wandile Fana from the Association of Independent Publishers (AIP) and Melody Emmett from the freelancers’ association (SAFREA). Anlo Financial Solutions, a financial services company will assist with processing.

Executive: Corporate Affairs at MTN South Africa, Jacqui O’Sullivan, says all South Africans owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to the reporters and editors who have braved harsh conditions every day to provide invaluable information that is helping save lives.

“In MTN’s view, it is now imperative that the private sector steps in to offer financial assistance to ensure quality reporting standards can be maintained across digital, broadcast and print media platforms. To ensure communication channels remain open and the public gets the information it can trust, MTN is proud to partner with SANEF to begin offering financial support and aid through a targeted relief fund for journalists.”

However, she adds that this is just the first step and “far more” needs to be done, which is why MTN is encouraging all large corporates, companies in supply chains, clients and individuals who can, to step up and help by contributing to this fund.

The purpose of the funding is to assist those in dire need with a small donation to purchase necessities like food and clothing. Only freelance, contract or permanently employed journalists who have been retrenched or had their contracts cancelled since the implementation of the national lockdown on 26 March 2020, will be eligible to apply.

This announcement fulfils the promise we made to establish a fund – a promise we made when we launched our “COVID19 Impact on Journalism” Report in June 2020.

The report points to the devastation that COVID has wreaked on the industry – particularly the print media with the closure of two magazine publishers and 80 small print publications operating across the country, leading to the loss of over 700 journalist jobs. Also, the report pointed to the fact that freelancers had been particularly badly impacted and that 60% of their members had lost almost 70% of their income – and that some had lost 80% to 100%.

SANEF is keenly aware of the fact that many industries are experiencing tough times and that salary cuts and retrenchments have become an ever-present reality. But what is particularly worrying is that with the media industry plays a powerful, democracy-deepening role in society – this is in terms of ensuring a free flow of information in society to keep citizens informed and to hold the powerful to account, both in terms of government and the private sector. We are thus worried that the collapse of the media in small towns, and the shrinking of the industry as a whole, will have a devastating long-term effect on the health of our democracy.

This fund is, therefore, a small first step to assist the industry and thus ultimately to assist all citizens to get the information they need.

We want to again express our gratitude to all who have assisted SANEF to establish the fund. We are hoping that the first phase will allow us to offer emergency relief to journalists. However, if we find further funding, we hope to support other projects to assist the sustainability of small, independent media institutions across the country, through a variety of targeted interventions.

If you wish to contribute to the fund, kindly contact [email protected] and we will send you the details. Alternative arrangements are being made to enable individuals to quickly contribute on a safe, stable and reliable platform. We will announce this soon.

Please find a link to the application form here. 

If you would like to donate to the SANEF Media Relief Fund, please click here

Note to Editors: The South African National Editors’ Forum (SANEF) is a non-profit organisation whose members are editors, senior journalists and journalism trainers from all areas of the South African media. We are committed to championing South Africa’s hard-won freedom of expression and promoting quality, ethics and diversity in the South African media. We promote excellence in journalism through fighting for media freedom, writing policy submissions, research and education and training programmes. SANEF is not a union.

For more information please contact:

  • Mahlatse Mahlase – SANEF Chairperson, (083) 399-2852
  • Katy Katopodis – SANEF Deputy Chairperson (082) 805-7022
  • Moipone Malefane – SANEF Secretary General (082) 772-5861
  • Adriaan Basson – SANEF Treasurer – 082 562 2113
  • Mary Papayya – SANEF Media Freedom Chair (082) 379-4957
  • Judy Sandison – SANEF KZN Convenor (082) 571-3334
  • Sbu Ngalwa – SANEF Eastern Cape Convenor (073) 404-1415
  • Janet Heard – SANEF Western Cape Convenor, (078) 041-9528
  • Hopewell Radebe – SANEF Gauteng Convenor (083) 582-1734
  • Kate Skinner – SANEF Executive Director – (082) 926-6404

 

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