The Mail & Guardian matters: Looking back in admiration

Mail & Guardian

20 hours ago

As a paid-up member of the print dinosaurs club, and having worked at the
Mail & Guardian
for almost 25 years, it is easy to claim ownership of deep affection and respect for this unique publication.
It is definitely not because of the M&G's generous salary packages that I have worked here for so long. Back in the 1990s, and even after I rejoined the M&G in 2010, the newsroom was always occupied by a wildly diverse range of characters.
Eccentric, passionate, committed, talented, courageous, argumentative, but all united by the desire to expose corruption, injustice and wrongdoing, to question authority, to analyse events as they unfolded, to tell the stories of South Africans and to write about the things that interested them.
Being a member of the production team, these people could be immensely frustrating because meeting deadlines was not high on their list of priorities, but what they produced in the end was always worth the wait.
I have worked in many newsrooms in South Africa, but it was at the M&G that I found a home. Most importantly, I found a place where I could be proud of the work that we did and my role in the newspaper that we produced.
The characters that I write so fondly of here are a dying breed, or at least have moved on to more stable and profitable positions. But as we deal with the immense stress of the Section 189 retrenchment process and contemplate a different configuration of the M&G, I am constantly surprised and gratified by how big a role the M&G has played in the lives and careers of younger members of staff.
Lesego Chepape, arts writer
The Mail & Guardian gave me a chance, a platform to tell stories about where I come from. I would commute from Tembisa to the office every day — a journey that felt longer not because of the distance, but because of the weight I carried. Every morning, I stepped into spaces where stories of glossy suburbs were more familiar, while mine came from gravel roads and overcrowded taxis. I was scared. Sometimes embarrassed. What if they didn't see value in my township tales?
But slowly, I leaned in. The lens began to zoom into the cracks on our pavements, the colours on our walls, the smoke rising from the kasi shisanyama. As an environment reporter, I showed the dumping sites we lived next to, the rivers that cried oil instead of water. Now, as an arts reporter, I show the brilliance of self-taught painters who use scrap wood as canvas.
This platform matters to us — to my community. Through it, Tembisa has spoken to Stellenbosch, to Makhanda and to Soweto. I realised it's not just about reporting, it's about translating lived experience into stories that matter. Stories that shout. Stories that whisper home. That is what the Mail & Guardian has become.
Aarti Bhana, news reporter
One of the first questions they ask in journalism school is: 'What sort of journalism are you interested in and where do you see yourself working?' I was 22 at the time, and only one name came to mind: 'Mail & Guardian'.
It's a progressive and informative newspaper, and it untangles the complexities of South Africa, past and present, and I wanted to be part of its legacy. It was on my vision board for the longest time and when I finally stepped into the Mail & Guardian newsroom as a journalist years later, I was reminded that dreams do come true.
The publication has stood the test of time, consistently giving the public what it wants: news that empowers, educates and reflects the world to them. For me, it was never just about getting the job — it was about what I could contribute to the world through it. That's why the M&G matters, today and always.'
Sheree Bega, environment reporter
Twenty-five years ago, I was completing my BTech degree in journalism and there was only one newsroom I wanted to work in: the Mail & Guardian.
As a young student, I devoured each edition of the paper every week and dreamt of being part of the M&G with its incredible team of investigative journalists, and its enduring legacy of fearless and independent journalism.
Eager-eyed, I managed to secure an interview for the cadet school that the M&G ran back then, but while I was shortlisted, I never made it in. I was crushed.
Still, I started freelancing for the M&G at the time and it was the first newspaper I ever had my byline in. I was so chuffed and still have that story, somewhere.
The M&G is probably where my career in environmental journalism first started; I became a freelancer and was writing for the environmental supplements the M&G published back then. I still have all of those articles too.
The M&G was a pioneer of environmental journalism in South Africa and has a strong and proud history of covering environmental issues. With its in-depth investigative reporting and analysis on environmental issues, it was a trailblazer in the field, establishing its environmental coverage early on, even amid challenges during the apartheid era.
Over the years, world-class environmental journalists such as Eddie Koch, Fiona Macleod, Yolandi Groenewald and Sipho Kings have exposed corruption and held corporations — and the government — accountable for their disregard of the environment.
The annual Greening the Future awards are a testament to how the M&G recognises and celebrates environmental efforts in the country. The M&G continues to provide extensive coverage of environmental issues with its focus on climate change, water resources, pollution and the crisis affecting the natural world.
And, it says a lot that even now, during these horrible retrenchments facing us at the M&G, there is still a position for an environmental reporter.