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Mail & Guardian
4 days ago
- Politics
- Mail & Guardian
ANC, DA square off over budget
(Graphic: John McCann/M&G) The Democratic Alliance won't back the budgets for the departments of higher education, human settlements and police This content is restricted to subscribers only . Join the M&G Community Our commitment at the Mail & Guardian is to ensure every reader enjoys the finest experience. Join the M&G community and support us in delivering in-depth news to you consistently. Subscription enables: - M&G community membership - independent journalism - access to all premium articles & features - a digital version of the weekly newspaper - invites to subscriber-only events - the opportunity to test new online features first Already a subscriber?
Daily Maverick
05-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Maverick
‘Painful to witness' — behind the jobs bloodbath at the Mail & Guardian
In May, staff at the Mail & Guardian were served with Section 189 notices informing them that the publication was initiating a process of retrenchment. The figures are stark. Out of a newsroom that employs just 25 permanent staff, approximately half now face losing their jobs. A total of 24 positions across editorial, administration and IT were identified as affected, with 12 redundancies anticipated. The reasons provided in the notices were familiar to an industry under siege. 'The Covid-19 pandemic, power shortages, rising inflation and an already strained South African economy' were listed, alongside 'rising costs for print materials and ink, alongside a marked reduction in advertising budgets, as advertisers increasingly turn to digital platforms to reach their audiences.' Mail & Guardian owner Hoosain Karjieker told Daily Maverick this week: 'It is clear from the entire sector that we operate in, that the traditional print media business model has become a failed business model that requires a more dramatic intervention for the M&G to sustain itself in the future'. But behind the cold language of economic pressure lies a possibly deeper malaise. 'There's been a difficult climate for all media, but Mail & Guardian has been particularly poorly handled in recent years,' the newspaper's co-founder, Anton Harber, told Daily Maverick. 'It's been extremely painful to witness.' Insiders who spoke to Daily Maverick this week on condition of anonymity because of the rapidly-diminishing size of a grudge-prone industry, painted the picture of a media operation that has been inching towards collapse for years. M&G boasts a proud history The Mail & Guardian has often seemed like a publication with nine lives. Its lineage stretches back to 1985 when it launched as the Weekly Mail, established by a group of journalists retrenched from anti-apartheid publications — mainly the Rand Daily Mail. With Harber and Irwin Manoim as its first editors, the paper quickly became known for its tenacity, its independence, and its investigations. In 1995 it became the Mail & Guardian after British publisher The Guardian bought a majority stake, which it held until 2017. Over the years, it established a reputation as one of South Africa's most fearless investigative print titles, breaking major stories almost week on week, but with an unusual corresponding depth in fields like coverage of the arts. It also led the continent in digital media innovation. At one point, the Mail & Guardian ran the first and biggest news website in Africa. But that early advantage was slowly and then swiftly eroded. One insider remarked this week: 'How that lead was squandered needs to be studied.' The outlet's digital strategy has been inconsistent, marked by the erection of a paywall that was later removed, and a growing reliance on sponsored content, both online and in print. Print circulation figures tell their own story: just 4,904 copies sold, according to the most recent figures, a collapse from the publication's peak of 50,000 to 60,000 under one of its former editors, Ferial Haffajee. More than the numbers, the human toll has become impossible to ignore. Staff morale was depleted by longstanding concerns about late or missed payments to freelancers and suppliers, something that has earned the publication a reputation for unreliability within media circles for at least a decade, and which has made it very difficult for the newspaper to hold on to talented collaborators. Claims of a lack of transparency when it came to the true state of Mail & Guardian's finances have also swirled — something Karjieker adamantly disputes. 'I am not aware of these claims,' he told Daily Maverick. 'More importantly, we have always been very transparent with staff with regard to our budgets, business plans and business strategy.' In recent years, editors came and went relatively quickly, struggling to turn the ship around amid dwindling resources and inconsistent leadership. The Mail & Guardian's loss of its publishing partnership with amaBhungane in 2016 was another body blow. The relationship had guaranteed a stream of high-impact investigative work. When it ended, so too did a crucial source of circulation-boosting journalism. The departure of the cartoonist Zapiro shortly afterwards symbolised a further loss of the paper's cultural and editorial heft. If the paper's steady decline has felt at times like death by a thousand cuts, the departure of its longtime financial backer last year may prove the final wound. In October 2024, the Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF), which had been the Mail & Guardian's majority shareholder for 22 years, exited. The reasons behind its departure are unclear; Karjieker referred Daily Maverick this week to a press statement from the MDIF at the time that does not greatly elucidate the matter. 'Though sad to be exiting such an iconic media company, we are pleased that ownership of the Mail & Guardian is passing into South African hands and that the transaction will bring new capital into the company to fuel development,' MDIF head Harlan Mandel was quoted as saying at the time. Its shares were sold to former CEO Karjieker and director Thembisa Fakude. Staff have reported concerns about the retrenchment process to come, with unease over whether settlements will be fully honoured given the paper's questionable track record on payments. The beginning of the end — or not the end at all? Karjieker is adamant that it's not over for the Mail & Guardian. 'Our vision will always be for the M&G to be a platform for high-quality, independent and credible journalism that underwrites the strength of our brand,' he says. 'The changes under way are designed to ensure its continuance for many more years to come.' Asked if it was possible that Mail & Guardian would shutter its print operation and move fully digital, as a number of Media24 titles, including City Press, have recently done, Karjieker said it was possible, but not foreseen for 2025. As journalists across South Africa absorb the latest grim news, there is little appetite for finger-pointing or schadenfreude. Almost every South African media house has endured rounds of retrenchments or restructuring in recent years. 'We operate in a failed market and it's very easy to be a casualty, while it's harder to invest in the things that will help us get out of it,' said Daily Maverick CEO Styli Charalambous. 'This is another example of why we need a new model to ensure the sustainability of media in South Africa. There has to be funding for media as a public good.' DM
Eyewitness News
30-05-2025
- Business
- Eyewitness News
'Mail & Guardian' could be facing a jobs bloodbath as staff receive Section 189 notices
JOHANNESBURG - Popular news outlet, Mail & Guardian , could be facing a jobs bloodbath as staff at the organisation receive Section 189 notices. The notices signal potential retrenchments at the news organisation, as all staff members received notices. The notices, issued in terms of the Labour Relations Act, indicate a restructuring at the newspaper which could affect many jobs. The Mail & Guardian has been a stalwart of investigative journalism and in-depth coverage in South Africa. The move has raised concerns over the publication's future as it continues to face challenges in the rapidly changing media landscape. The publication's CEO, Hoosain Karjieker, explained: "We commenced the process about two weeks ago as this first quarter of the year, we realised that the costs are continuing to rise and the business was continuing to struggle commercially and we sort of had to make some drastic interventions in order to ensure the survival of the paper moving forward."
Eyewitness News
30-05-2025
- Business
- Eyewitness News
Mail & Guardian CEO confident publication will remain available as job cuts loom
JOHANNESBURG - While the future of employees at popular publication, Mail & Guardian , is uncertain, CEO Hoosain Karjieker is confident it will remain available to its readers beyond the restructuring process. The news outlet's 25 staff members received section 189 notices, signalling a move to shed jobs as it struggles to stay afloat. But Karjieker said this doesn't signal the end of the Friday newspaper. READ: 'Mail & Guardian' could be facing a jobs bloodbath as staff receive Section 189 notices "No, absolutely not. I mean, I think that it resisted doing this type of thing. We had done some restructure during the course of last year, but we confined it to a theme that we realised as this year got underway, especially with these sort of dramatic rise in distribution costs, that a more urgent intervention was required for us to stabilise the company once again." Karjieker envisages a conclusion of the process in June but stresses that the process will not affect all employees. "After situations, one prefers not to drag the situation out for too long, but we are sort of aware and cognisant of what the Labour Relations Act requires from us. So it's very much in the consultative process and we're hoping to complete that process perhaps by the end of June or, you know, depending on how those negotiations go."
France 24
22-05-2025
- Politics
- France 24
New York Times: How Russia's intelligence services turned Brazil into a ‘spy factory'
Reactions from the South African press after President Cyril Ramaphosa's meeting with Donald Trump in the White House. South African daily Mail & Guardian recalls how the meeting started off cordial enough – Ramaphosa even brought along two South African golf stars as a nod to Trump's favourite sport. But things veered off course after a journalist asked Trump what it would take to see there isn't a genocide in South Africa. To this, Ramaphosa said, it would take listening to South Africans. And then: Trump showed him a video he claimed was proof of calls for a white genocide in South Africa – clips of South African politician Julius Malema chanting an anti-farmer song. Video clips also showed what Trump purported were the burial sites of over 1000 white farmers. In reality, it was a memorial procession from September 2020. Ambush is really the word that defines a lot of the South African front pages today. Daily News saying as much on its front page after that calamitous meeting between Cyril Ramaphosa and Donald Trump. The Sowetan says Ramaphosa "survived the ambush". The paper impressed that he staged "a pushback against lies of a white genocide in South Africa". In its analysis, the New York Times says Trump cast himself as a protector of persecuted white people. He publicly dressed down the South African president based on a fringe conspiracy theory. The US daily also reports that Brazil is trying to dismantle a network of Russian spies in the country. This fascinating investigative report looks at how Russia used Brazil as a sort of assembly line for producing Russian spies. The goal was not to spy on Brazil but for its spies to become Brazilian with passports. Brazil's painstaking investigative work, which began after the war in Ukraine, involved dismantling the network, piece by piece. It dealt a devastating blow to Putin's spy program. Times takes us through Operation East which was led by the same counterintelligence agents who investigated former president Jair Bolsonaro. They combed through millions of Brazilian identity records in search of patterns. It began in 2022 with the arrest of Victor Muller Ferreira aka Sergey Cherkasov. Authorities discovered his real birth Brazilian certificate citing a deceased Brazilian woman as his mother. Yet, upon further investigation – they discovered she never had children. Consequently, this network of ghosts began to unravel. In Ireland, a controversial rapper has been charged with a terror offence. The Belfast Telegraph reports that Mo Chara, rapper of the Irish language rap group Kneecap, was charged with a terror offence. It dates back to last November when the group displayed a flag in support of Hezbollah during a concert. Videos also emerged of the band allegedly calling for deaths of MPs. They later denied support for the groups and apologized. In the UK, Hezbollah and Hamas are declared terrorist organisations, which means it's illegal to express support for them. Irish news site Breaking News reports that it's not the group's first run-in with the law. Last month at Coachella, Kneecap ended their set with three messages on a screen accusing Israel of genocide and war crimes which sparked outrage in the US. They also commissioned a mural in Belfast of a burning Land Rover, the vehicle used in policing in Northern Ireland, which some say glorified terrorism. Finally, Taiwan has a new rock star envoy to Finland. Freddy Lim founded the Taiwanese heavy metal band Chthonic which is known as the Black Sabbath of Asia. He has now been named envoy to Finland. And his nomination is apt – the band is well known in Finland having recorded four albums with a Finnish label. As the Brooklyn based website Metal Injection notes, Finland has the most metal bands per capita – 80 for every 100k citizens. So where better than Finland to appoint a heavy metal singing ambassador!
