Speaking about the "irreconcilable differences", Johnnic Communications CEO, Connie Molusi, said that management had been concerned that Tsedu had not been editing the paper in a manner consistent with his contract of employment and the written mission statement of the Sunday Times. He said that their attempts to find common ground had been unsuccessful.
Tsedu, who was appointed as editor earlier in the year, maintains that he was fired due to a drop in the paper's circulation in KwaZulu-Natal, a loss of readers in the LSM 6 to 9 group, and because he had not retained staff. He said however that the problems could have been worked on. "I don't think there is any paper not experiencing similar problems... I don't think you should fire an editor because circulation in one region is bleeding," he said.
Tsedu, a former head of the South African National Editors Forum and a winner of the Nieman fellowship to Harvard, said that he will be consulting with his lawyer, but that he considered it unlikely that he would be fighting the matter in court.
Managing editor Ray Hartley has been appointed acting editor in Tsedu's place.
