Sunday Times editor and now former chairperson of the SA National Editors' Forum Makhudu Sefara is facing allegations that he improperly benefitted from the National Lotteries Commission grants.
Image: Sharon Seretlo / Independent Newspapers
The SA National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) has launched an independent legal inquiry into the Special Investigating Unit’s (SIU’s) revelations implicating Sunday Times editor Makhudu Sefara in allegedly improperly benefiting from National Lotteries Commission (NLC) grants.
On Saturday, Sanef Executive Director Reggy Moalusi said Sefara had stepped aside.
“There will be an independent legal inquiry that has been briefed by Sanef,” he said.
Former GroundUp editor Nathan Geffen said Sanef should have held an inquiry, which would have given Sefara, who was the forum's chairperson until he stepped down this week, an opportunity to clear his name.
“Instead, in 2025, it (Sanef) elected Sefara as its chair. And now we have last week's revelation by the SIU, which resulted in Sefara stepping aside. It's possible he's innocent of all the charges against him, but the fact is that with the red flag raised in 2023, there should have been some kind of inquiry. With that red flag unresolved, it's perplexing that he was instead elected Sanef chair,” he said.
According to Geffen, in 2023, the online publication published a report showing how the Sunday World, which was running puff pieces for the NLC and attacks on GroundUp, which was exposing Lottery corruption, had received disproportionate Lottery advertising relative to their readership.
At the time, Sefara was editor of Sunday World for some of this period (2019).
“I raised this with Sanef and, to cut a long story short, in late 2023, (academic) Anton Harber wrote a letter to Sanef asking for an inquiry into the NLC/Sunday World relationship. Sefara was a member of Sanef's management committee (Mancom) at the time.
“At a meeting of February 10, 2024, Sanef effectively refused Harber's request,” Geffen explained.
He added that Sanef released a statement on Friday claiming it “appointed an independent panel in June 2024 to assess this very issue and advise on what steps the organisation should take going forward” but this panel was not independent, and it was not an inquiry.
“It published an ‘advice note’ in which Sanef washed its hands of the problem. This was not its finest moment. Going forward, Sanef must do better than this,” urged Geffen.
He stated that GroundUp will also publish a statement on Monday.
Harber had demanded the forum that “in light of the findings and recommendations of the Sanef inquiry into media ethics, it is imperative that Sanef hold an inquiry into these allegations. Do they have merit? If they do, then who are the individuals responsible? What remedial actions, if any, should be taken?”
He continued: “If Sanef turns a blind eye to these serious allegations, it will be accused of not taking seriously media ethics, ignoring the recommendations of its own inquiry, and sheltering the corrupt.
“This inquiry needs to be chaired by people external to Sanef. The reason for this is that one of the people implicated in the article is a former editor of Sunday World and current Mancom member of Sanef, Sefara.
“It is unlikely that Sanef, with the close friendships inside the organisation, would be able to conduct an internal inquiry with sufficient credibility. It would also be prudent for Sefara to recuse himself from any discussion about this inquiry,” Harber said in November 2023.
Sanef indicated at the time that there would be value for its council to consider enhancing the forum’s preferred disciplinary procedures.
“Considering the Sunday World/GroundUp dispute’s context, it is crucial for the Sanef council to navigate this challenge with sensitivity and adherence to its constitution. Balancing accountability and fairness is essential, especially when addressing alleged violations of the codes and potential reputational damage,” the forum stated.
Sefara did not respond to requests for comment on Saturday on whether he intended to challenge the SIU report, but earlier this week, he said that in 2018, he was running a private firm – Unscripted Communication – and therefore not attached to any other institution, private or public.
“I was approached by the head of Todi NPO (non-profit organisation), Daniel Makwela, and requested to put together a community media training event,” he said.
Sefara said the event was held in December 2018 at Birchwood Hotel in Ekurhuleni, where over 50 members of the community media sector, for both print and radio, attended.
“The guests were booked at Birchwood Hotel. So, to claim that some funds were ‘diverted’ into private pockets to create an impression of impropriety on my part is not just false and therefore harmful, but a poor strategy to use my name to generate undue publicity.
“There could be no doubt on whether or not the event took place. As CEO of a communications firm, I was entitled to pursue business which included organising community media workshops,” he further explained.
Fundudzi Media boss David Mabilu also did not respond to requests for comment.
Mabilu’s company was the Sunday World owner, when Sefara was its editor.
loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za