It is almost six years since I joined Independent Media, the publisher of many of South Africa’s well-known newspapers, including this one. My tenure as editor of Business Report comes to a close this month, and I have nothing but immense gratitude for the opportunity I have had to edit South Africa’s most widely read financial daily.
I have decided that the time has come for me to set my sights on new opportunities. While I am going to miss everything about Business Report, there is every reason to welcome change.
As editor, I have not only had the privilege to interact with ordinary South Africans, but I have also had the chance to engage with presidents, business leaders, key decision-makers and opinion shapers of our time.
These and many other engagements provided me with a canvas through which Business Report could decipher and contextualise many of the contemporary issues, events and developments that now constitute our history.
That history is the story of South Africa and Africa. This is where my journalism career had its genesis. Naturally, I have always been fascinated by media, and I have an innate affinity to inform and be informed. This is just how journalists are wired. My fascination with media stems partly from the fact that my generation, just like those before it, has always had to ask questions and seek answers in order to put meaning to our affairs.
#hashtag
Even today’s #hashtag generation is no different to our generation. They, albeit with the help of powerful social media platforms, are also asking questions and seeking answers, especially from those that are in authority. So our duty as the media is to reflect this dynamic and all that it brings.
It has been a real honour to put Business Report, and by extension South Africa, at the heart of every important conversation – whether it was dealing with #AfricaRising, the state of our economy, the state of our education outcomes or the bifurcation of ordinary conversations by social media. As a reader of Business Report you would readily appreciate that this newspaper is an open platform for important and unabashed debate about our political economy.
South Africans deserve and must have unadulterated information about their state of affairs or the affairs of their state.
My predecessor often said that our task as a newspaper was three fold: To inform, to educate, and (at times) to irritate. Yes, the media is often thought of as an irritation, but it is a necessary one. I am proud of every contribution by the Business Report team. Their hard work has allowed our newspaper to stay relevant.
During my time as editor South Africa celebrated 20 years of freedom. In one of my many articles I commented that as a country we needed to adopt a “business unusual” way of doing things.
In other words, we all needed to understand that the era that was ushered in by Nelson Mandela remained a transition phase from which to build a more formidable country – non-racial, prosperous and generous. That is a country where leaders – in politics, business and every other sphere – put their self-interests last and the country first.
I am certain that there would continue to be a need, for this newspaper and many other platforms, to reflect on these ideals and the many conversations that are poised to shape our future. In fact, the start of 2016 has shown that there remains a great need for serious and honest conversations about the sort of future this country needs.
* Follow Ellis Mnyandu on Twitter: @Ellis_Mnyandu
BUSINESS REPORT