‘Painful to witness’ — behind the jobs bloodbath at the Mail & Guardian

In May, staff at the Mail & Guardian were served with Section 189 notices informing them that the publication was initiating a process of retrenchment.

The figures are stark. Out of a newsroom that employs just 25 permanent staff, approximately half now face losing their jobs. A total of 24 positions across editorial, administration and IT were identified as affected, with 12 redundancies anticipated.

The reasons provided in the notices were familiar to an industry under siege.

“The Covid-19 pandemic, power shortages, rising inflation and an already strained South African economy” were listed, alongside “rising costs for print materials and ink, alongside a marked reduction in advertising budgets, as advertisers increasingly turn to digital platforms to reach their audiences.”

Mail & Guardian owner Hoosain Karjieker told Daily Maverick this week: “It is clear from the entire sector that we operate in, that the traditional print media business model has become a failed business model that requires a more dramatic intervention for the M&G to sustain itself in the future”.

But behind the cold language of economic pressure lies a possibly deeper malaise.

“There’s been a difficult climate for all media, but Mail & Guardian has been particularly poorly handled in recent years,” the newspaper’s co-founder, Anton Harber, told Daily Maverick.

“It’s been extremely painful to witness.”

Insiders who spoke to Daily Maverick this week on condition of anonymity because of the rapidly-diminishing size of a grudge-prone industry, painted the picture of a media operation that has been inching towards collapse for years.

M&G boasts a proud history

The Mail & Guardian has often seemed like a publication with nine lives. Its lineage stretches back to 1985 when it launched as the Weekly Mail, established by a group of journalists retrenched from anti-apartheid publications — mainly the Rand Daily Mail.

With Harber and Irwin Manoim as its first editors, the paper quickly became known for its tenacity, its independence, and its investigations. In 1995 it became the Mail & Guardian after British publisher The Guardian bought a majority stake, which it held until 2022.

Over the years, it established a reputation as one of South Africa’s most fearless investigative print titles, breaking major stories almost week on week, but with an unusual corresponding depth in fields like coverage of the arts.

It also led the continent in digital media innovation. At one point, the Mail & Guardian ran the first and biggest news website in Africa. But that early advantage was slowly and then swiftly eroded.

One insider remarked this week: “How that lead was squandered needs to be studied.”

The outlet’s digital strategy has been inconsistent, marked by the erection of a paywall that was later removed, and a growing reliance on sponsored content, both online and in print. Print circulation figures tell their own story: just 4,904 copies sold, according to the most recent figures, a collapse from the publication’s peak of 50,000 to 60,000 under one of its former editors, Ferial Haffajee.

More than the numbers, the human toll has become impossible to ignore. Staff morale was depleted by longstanding concerns about late or missed payments to freelancers and suppliers, something that has earned the publication a reputation for unreliability within media circles for at least a decade, and which has made it very difficult for the newspaper to hold on to talented collaborators.

Claims of a lack of transparency when it came to the true state of Mail & Guardian’s finances have also swirled — something Karjieker adamantly disputes.

“I am not aware of these claims,” he told Daily Maverick.

“More importantly, we have always been very transparent with staff with regard to our budgets, business plans and business strategy.”

In recent years, editors came and went relatively quickly, struggling to turn the ship around amid dwindling resources and inconsistent leadership.

The Mail & Guardian’s loss of its publishing partnership with amaBhungane in 2016 was another body blow. The relationship had guaranteed a stream of high-impact investigative work. When it ended, so too did a crucial source of circulation-boosting journalism.

The departure of the cartoonist Zapiro shortly afterwards symbolised a further loss of the paper’s cultural and editorial heft.

If the paper’s steady decline has felt at times like death by a thousand cuts, the departure of its longtime financial backer last year may prove the final wound.

In October 2024, the Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF), which had been the Mail & Guardian’s majority shareholder for 22 years, exited.

The reasons behind its departure are unclear; Karjieker referred Daily Maverick this week to a press statement from the MDIF at the time that does not greatly elucidate the matter.

“Though sad to be exiting such an iconic media company, we are pleased that ownership of the Mail & Guardian is passing into South African hands and that the transaction will bring new capital into the company to fuel development,” MDIF head Harlan Mandel was quoted as saying at the time.

Its shares were sold to former CEO Karjieker and director Thembisa Fakude.

Staff have reported concerns about the retrenchment process to come, with unease over whether settlements will be fully honoured given the paper’s questionable track record on payments.

The beginning of the end — or not the end at all?

Karjieker is adamant that it’s not over for the Mail & Guardian.

“Our vision will always be for the M&G to be a platform for high-quality, independent and credible journalism that underwrites the strength of our brand,” he says.

“The changes under way are designed to ensure its continuance for many more years to come.”

Asked if it was possible that Mail & Guardian would shutter its print operation and move fully digital, as a number of Media24 titles, including City Press, have recently done, Karjieker said it was possible, but not foreseen for 2025.

As journalists across South Africa absorb the latest grim news, there is little appetite for finger-pointing or schadenfreude. Almost every South African media house has endured rounds of retrenchments or restructuring in recent years.

“We operate in a failed market and it’s very easy to be a casualty, while it’s harder to invest in the things that will help us get out of it,” said Daily Maverick CEO Styli Charalambous.

“This is another example of why we need a new model to ensure the sustainability of media in South Africa. There has to be funding for media as a public good.” DM