Durban - Staff at four of Media 24’s Fever community newspapers in KwaZulu-Natal were told on Monday that their papers were closing because they were not making money.
The Mercury spoke to several staffers who said the Zululand Fever, Ulundi Fever, Ballito Fever and Durban North Fever were affected.
There was no announcement on the future of the Upper Coast Fever.
They said they were told “out of the blue” that they were being retrenched.
“We were told that Neil Tapinos (publisher) was coming for a meeting today. He walked in and said we were shutting down on November 28,” one staff member said.
“We were aware that times were tough, but we were not expecting this. There was simply no transparency. He said the Fever group, which has 14 titles, was running at a loss and the two Zululand titles were the biggest contributor to that.”
It is estimated that 17 people will be out of jobs. They have been offered their salaries for November, two months’ basic salary (excluding allowances) and one week’s pay for every year worked.
This round of retrenchments comes after four editorial managers in the Fever group were retrenched a month ago. Restructuring was also under way at the Stanger Weekly.
Another staff member said the shutting of titles was “part of a bigger plan to collapse the community newspapers” and a Media 24 restructuring.
The Mercury left messages for Tapinos and Ishmet Davidson, Media 24’s general manager of news, but neither had responded before publication.
The Mercury