Sowetan acting editor takes responsibility, steps down

3 Aug 2011

Len Maseko, who became acting editor of Sowetan earlier this year, has taken full responsibility for the controversial column from now axed Eric Miyeni concerning City Press editor Ferial Haffajee - and has stepped down. Mpumelelo Mkhabela, previously the editor of Daily Dispatch, will now helm the newspaper.

In turn, Brendan Boyle, will become editor at Daily Dispatch. Boyle is currently the parliamentary bureau chief of Avusa Media, runs the politics section of Times Live and has a weekly column in the Avusa daily, The Times. These changes are all effective immediately.

Although Maseko was on leave at the time, according to a statement from Avusa, he accepts the consequences of this lapse in the paper's judgment, which allowed the column to appear.

"We are incredibly pleased"

Comments Mondli Makhanya, Avusa Media editor-in-chief, "Mpumelelo Mkhabela is one of the country's most respected journalists and political commentators and we are incredibly pleased that he will be at the helm of Sowetan. [He] believes in strong debate and editorial integrity, while also embracing the synergy between print and digital media."

Continues Makhanya, "Brendan has seen it all. He knows nearly everything there is to know about the functioning of South African society and is undoubtedly an authority on political and economic issues."

Mkhabela, who cut his teeth as a reporter at City Press, holds a journalism honours degree from Stellenbosch University and also holds honours degrees in political science and international politics from the University of Limpopo and UNISA respectively.

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