Courageous News24 journalists receive prestigious Nat Nakasa award

• News24 has taken two of the three top prizes awarded for fearless reporting.
• The prestigious Nat Nakasa award was presented to Kyle Cowan and Jeff Wicks from the News24 Investigations team.
• For the first time this year, the top award was given to three journalists. 

Two News24 investigative journalists have been awarded the prestigious Nat Nakasa award for significant impact with fearless reporting.

The annual award, named after one of South Africa’s top writers, is given by Print Media SA, the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) and the Nieman Society to recognise a media practitioner who demonstrates exceptional integrity and courage in their work.

The event was held on Saturday at the Radisson Blu in Umhlanga.

For the first time, the leading award for courageous journalism was jointly given to three journalists, News24’s Kyle Cowan and Jeff Wicks, and Daily Dispatch’s Theo Jeptha.

Wicks was honoured for his tenacious reporting on the assassination of whistleblower Babita Deokaran.

He was nominated by Deokaran’s family. Deokaran was the Gauteng health department official who was gunned down outside her home after exposing corruption amounting to R2.3 billion at Tembisa Hospital.

In their submission, the family said: “Wicks worked with dogged determination and was relentless in getting to the truth of why she was murdered. He travelled throughout the country, putting his life and the life of his family at risk. He spent sleepless nights and countless days investigating and chasing the truth as to why she was murdered.

“Babita would be in awe of this amazing journalist, as are we all.”

Cowan was recognised for his investigative feature on the murders of liquidators Cloete Murray and his son Thomas who were gunned down on a freeway.

The Murrays were involved in the liquidation of a number of state-capture accused companies, including the Bosasa group.

At great risk to himself, Cowan uncovered a botched police investigation, as well as details of the liquidation the pair were working on at the time: a business empire owned by a powerful actor with underworld connections. 

“Investigative journalism is an arduous task, often thankless, and takes time and dedication. Both Jeff and Kyle have shown deep commitment to their jobs. And that’s what sets them apart. We are fortunate that Media24 understands the value of investigative journalism, and supports and invests in it,” said Pieter du Toit, News24’s assistant editor overseeing investigations

“Democracy is stronger because of it. We are proud of them. But the job’s not done.”

Jeptha won for his story, “We walked a mile in their shoes… and it was terrifying”.

The feature detailed how an armed man robbed the Dispatch team and school children they were following during their arduous 10km walk to school in the very early morning while it was still dark.

Awards judge Crystal Orderson said the three journalists “epitomise the spirit of courageous journalism, risking their safety to shine a light on critical issues and expose injustices”.

Sanef chairperson Nwabisa Makunga challenged the media not to be “deaf to the call of accountability; without fear or favour, nor be lethargic in our response to the abuse of power and injustice”.

“This moment demands that we step up the challenge of history; that we are even more vigilant to the insidious nature of the abuse of power by those who claim to want the best for this nation,” she said.

Makunga added that editors must hold themselves, individual practitioners, media houses, and Sanef to high standards of integrity.

‘If I shall leave this country…’

Nathaniel “Nat” Nakasa was a South African journalist who died in New York in 1965 at the age of 28 while in exile. His influential but short career saw him report for Ilanga Lase, Drum Magazine and the Rand Daily Mail, where he gave voice to black people struggling under the apartheid regime.

Nakasa was accepted into the Nieman Fellowship journalism programme at Harvard University in 1965. He was refused a passport and offered an exit permit instead, which would force him to give up his South African citizenship.

“If I shall leave this country and decide not to come back,” he wrote in 1964, “it will be because of a desire to avoid perishing in my own bitterness – a bitterness born of being reduced to a second-class citizen.”

He left South Africa, knowing he would not be allowed back home.

Nakasa realised racism was rife in America, too. After completing his fellowship in June 1965, he wrote articles for several newspapers, but ran out of money and was unlikely to have his visa extended. He was depressed and desperately homesick, but unable to come home.

On 14 July 1965, he jumped from the seventh floor of a friend’s apartment.

Nakasa is remembered as a brave voice against the oppressive apartheid regime, and courageous journalists, editors and media organisation owners are awarded under his name for their work, which has:

• Shown integrity and reported fearlessly;
• Displayed a commitment to serve the people of South Africa;
• Tenaciously striven to maintain a publication or other medium despite insurmountable obstacles;
• Resisted any censorship;
• Shown courage in making information available to the South African public;
• Any combination of the above.

After decades, Nakasa’s remains were brought home from New York in 2014 for reburial, a military honour guard met the cortege and he was given a hero’s funeral.

Nakasa’s nephew, Thami Nakasa, said that if the courage of journalists in Nat Nakasa’s era was done without fear or favour, the same excellence was expected in every journalist today.

“This award is a great achievement that needs to be celebrated across our communities in the country. There are school kids who yearn to become not just journalists but excellent ones,” he said.

Nwabisa Mpondo, market development specialist at Sanlam Mass Retail, said Nakasa’s story was one of courage, integrity, and an “unwavering commitment to truth”.

“In the oppressive climate of 1960s apartheid South Africa, where the press was restricted and black voices were systematically silenced, Nakasa dared to speak out,” she said.

Mpondo said that Nakasa’s legacy was woven into the fabric of South African journalism, “not because he lived a long life, but because he lived a courageous one, and it serves as a testament to the transformative power of journalism”.

She added that the journalists honoured on Saturday were not just chroniclers of events; “you are custodians of our democracy”.

“They ensure that the South African public remains informed, that the powerful remain accountable, and that our society remains just,” she said.

Also awarded on Saturday was journalist Vicky Abraham, who won in the community media category for her story about deaf students at a Pretoria college who were given substandard food.

The Sanef Stephen Wrottesley Award for excellent service was presented to Slindile Khanyile, a media trainer, author and co-founder of the isiZulu online business publication Umbele.