Johannesburg - The South African National Editors' Forum (SANEF) on Monday mourned the deaths of veteran journalist, Zuluboy Molefe, and veteran photojournalist, Herbert Mabuza.
Popularly known as ZB, Molefe died on Friday aged 75. He worked for Drum and City Press among others. He was a Fellow at Nieman, Thomson and Poynter.
Molefe was an award-winning journalist and author who co-wrote and published a book in 1997, together with his colleague, Mike Mzileni, called: “A Common Hunger To Sing: A Tribute to South Africa's Black Women of Song, 1950 to 1990”.
Phalane Motale who worked with Molefe at the City Press remembered Molefe as an author and mentor who was dedicated to nurturing the skills of young journalists in the newsroom.
“He was a gentleman and father figure. The journalism fraternity has lost a giant,” Motale said.
“I became one of the top columnists because of him."
Molefe is survived by a wife and two daughters and will be buried Friday.
Veteran photojournalist, Mabuza passed away this weekend. Mabuza’s career spanned 30 years.
During this time he worked as a photographer for some of the country’s leading publications, including the Sunday Times.
Moipone Malefane, SANEF’s secretary general, Mabuza will be remembered as one of the photojournalists who covered Chris Hani's assassination.
“Mabuza was an outstanding photographer, who was promoted to the position of Managing Editor at the Sunday Times and later to the same position at the Sowetan and Sunday Word. He retired in 2015. It is indeed sad news to hear about his passing,” Malefane said.
SANEF said it was deeply saddened by this loss to the media industry and sent its deepest condolences to both their families and colleagues across the entire media industry.