 Block 1, Richmond Forum, Ground Floor, 18 Cedar Avenue,
Richmond, 2092 
 Tel 011 482 5771 / 6775  Fax 011 482 9132  046 338 NPO 
www.sanef.org.za  director@sanef.org.za

SANEF CELEBRATES COURAGEOUS JOURNALISM AND ELECTS NEW
LEADERSHIP
25 JUNE 2018
The South African National Editors’ Forum (SANEF) held its elective AGM
over the weekend and its annual Nat Nakasa courageous journalism
awards.
At its AGM SANEF committed to playing an active role in the lead up to the
2019 elections. This will include supporting and initiating election training
across the industry and launching a campaign to protect the safety of
journalists. An important component of this campaign will also include
promoting the critical role of the media in elections and a campaign
against fake news.
SANEF committed to strengthening its diversity and reach by including our
regional convenors on our management committee. The organisation also
launched a dedicated sub-committee to strengthen support to community
media. There is a commitment to recruiting new community media
members into the organisation.
Another significant area of SANEF’s work will be around updating training
materials for effective court reporting. Last but not least, SANEF will be
continuing its work to ensure that all courts in the land are open and
accessible to the media. SANEF has embarked on a particular initiative to
ensure that magistrates courts are more accessible to journalists. To this
end we have already met with the Magistrates Commission.
Nat Nakasa awards

 SANEF held its Nat Nakasa courageous journalism awards.
Nat Nakasa was a South African journalist who died in exile in 1965 at the
age of 28, after a brief but dynamic career characterised by his journalistic
courage and integrity.
The Nat Nakasa Award is celebrated annually by SANEF in recognition of
any media practitioner – journalist, editor, manager or owner – who has
shown exceptional integrity and courage in their work.
SANEF judge, veteran journalist and ex-Press Ombud, Joe Thloloe stated,
“This year we had the largest number of nominations ever and the quality
of the entries was outstanding, and it was out of this cream of South Africa
journalism that we selected the winner of the Nat Nakasa Award 2018”.
Thloloe acknowledged the committed and ground-breaking work of the
entire #GuptaLeaks team - Pauli van Wyk, Lester Freamon, Adriaan
Basson, Richard Poplak, Adi Eyal, Micah Reddy, Susan Comrie, Angelique
Serrao, Stefaans Brummer, Antoinette Muller, Marianne Thamm, Sam
Sole, Tabelo Timse, Pieter-Louis Myburgh, Craig McKune, Lionel Faull,
Rebecca Davis and Sally Evans.
He then announced the overall winner as Branko Brkic, editor of the online
publication the Daily Maverick.
The judges had this to say about Branko’s fearless leadership:
A cache of emails – a cache that defined the South African story in
the last year – landed on his lap. If he were just another ordinary
journalist, he would have heard the words SCOOP! and EXCLUSIVE!
dancing in his head. But he was extraordinary and thus did two
remarkable things: one, he realised this was not a story his
publication could hoard - it belonged to South Africa; and two, he
had to protect his sources.
He arranged for the safety of the sources and he put together a
team from his own publication, some journalists from the unique
South African investigative journalism centre AmaBhungane, and
from his rivals, Media24, to give us the #GuptaLeaks, the journalism
that brought down the Gupta family and their mentor, ex-President
Jacob Zuma.
The judges’ citation is attached.
Sanef elective AGM
In terms of our AGM, SANEF is happy to announce the following people
have been elected to take the organisation forward and lead our media
industry for the next two years:
Chair – Mahlatse Mahlase

 Deputy Chair- Katy Katopodis
Secretary General – Moipone Malefane
Treasurer – Adriaan Basson
Media Freedom Committee Chair – Sam Mkokeli
Education and Training Chair – Tshamano Mokadi
Diversity and Ethics Chair – Glenda Daniels
Digital and Broadcasting Chair – Sheldon Morais and Diane Hawker
Community Media Chair – Chris Louw
KZN Regional Chair – Judy Sandison
Western Cape Chair – Jane Heard
Eastern Cape Chair – Sbu Ngalwa
Gauteng Chair – Reggy Moalusi
SANEF is proud to announce that 50% of all the top posts including chair
and deputy chair are female.
For more information:
Mahlatse Mahlase – SANEF Chair
083 399 2852
Sam Mkokeli – SANEF Media Freedom Sub-Committee Chairperson
082 084 2051
Kate Skinner – SANEF Executive Director
082 926 6404