Five years ago today, Daily Maverick began on a journey that would not only change our company but would arguably change South Africa, too.
We had 30 permanent staff. It was August and we had just about enough in the bank to see payroll through to December. The ‘and then what?’ question hung heavy above our heads. These 30 employees were the people who uncovered the massacre at Marikana. They had been reporting on everything that was not right with the Zuma presidency. They were digging into Tom Moyane’s dirty dealings at SARS. Their work had earned the trust of a million or so readers who came to Daily Maverick every month to know what was really going on. Fourteen months into breaking the #GuptaLeaks, the prospect of closure was still on our horizon.
For advertisers, Daily Maverick was ‘too political’ to support. Our response in the newsroom to that was ‘imagine if we weren’t?’ It was easier and less messy for advertisers to funnel their marketing spend into Google or Facebook.
All over the world, newsrooms were facing the same problem. Many erected paywalls forcing readers to pay for what content they consumed. Many of those who didn’t, closed down.
A paywall didn’t make sense to us. We saw up close the extreme poverty in South Africa. We saw the lengths that SMEs were having to go to just to stay afloat. We were also committed to our constitutional mandate, to inform the public. How was the electorate going to make an informed decision on their ballot if they couldn’t afford to know the truth of what was happening?
How could we force people to pay? We couldn’t.
But we could ASK them to pay.
On 15 August 2018, we launched the Maverick Insider membership: a community of readers who understood the importance of our work and who were willing to contribute to our journey. We could no longer do it alone - and we didn’t want to. We needed a community. The members would receive various benefits in exchange for their contributions but the biggest of them all was to keep our journalism free for the millions who really couldn’t afford to pay.
For us, everything changed. In five years, our readership has grown to more than 10-million unique browsers a month. More than 26,000 of those are our Maverick Insider members. Their support enables the rest of the country to read for free. More than that, their support has helped change South Africa.
Major Macro Impact
The Maverick Insider community has enabled us to keep having a massive impact on South Africa. A few of the highlights are listed here:
- October 2018: Pauli van Wyk unleashes The Great VBS heist and exposes Julius Malema and Brian Shivambu as the thieves-in-chief.
- March 2019: Kevin Bloom releases his Pondo King/Namaqualand investigation detailing how the King of Western Pondoland had signed a contract with a Chinese company to lease a pristine stretch of the Wild Coast to develop a “Disney Playground”. The contract was stopped as a result of the investigation.
- June 2019: Pieter-Louis Myburgh’s continued exposure of Ace Magashule’s corruption following the release of his bestselling book “Gangster State”. From the Vrede Dairy Scandal, the “stolen” Piernoff painting, the “asbestos deal”, Free State contracts scandal … Ace Magashule was expelled, finally, from the ANC in June 2023. He still awaits his trial.
- October 2020: Mark Heywood brings to light the PPE corruption in Gauteng. Thanks to his work, the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has recovered hundreds of millions of rands so far.
- February 2021: Pieter-Louis Myburgh reveals how Minister of Health Zweli Mkhize awarded a dodgy R150-million communications contract to Digital Vibes. The scandal ultimately results in Mkhize stepping down as Minister.
- April 2021: Rebecca Davis and Victoria O’Regan's exposé on DA Western Cape boss Bonginkosi Madikizela’s fake qualifications resulted in his resignation.
- September 2021: Mark Heywood exposes the PPE Red Roses scandal of an irregularly awarded tender to the amount of R515-million. The matter has now been referred to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) following an investigation by the SIU.
- May 2022: After Jessica Bezuidenhout’s years of doggedly reporting on and investigating Trillion and Transnet, Eric Wood and Siyabonga Gama are arrested.
- August 2022: Peter Fabricius and Pauli van Wyk expose a secret visit of Putin’s No 2, Igor Sechin, to SA
- October 2022: Rebecca Davis exposes UCT vice-chancellor Mamokgethi Phakeng for misleading the university’s governing bodies. Phakeng has since left. The report on her performance should be released by the end of the year.
- November 2022: Ferial Haffajee exposes JHB Roads Agency head Tshepo Mahanuke's fake qualifications. Following this, Mahanuke was placed on special leave pending an investigation and then fired in June 2023.
- February 2023: Rebecca Davis exposes the SA Tourism/ Tottenham Hotspur proposed R1-bn deal. Thanks to her reporting, the deal was stopped.
- 2016 - 2023: Marianne Thamm doggedly pursued WC High Court Judge President John Hlophe. He is now suspended and within the impeachment process.
- March 2023: Kevin Bloom details the four cartels operating within Eskom.
This is by no means an exhaustive list of what Maverick Insiders helped make happen. It doesn’t even mention the work of Caryn Dolley and how she has traced the biggest drug cartels in the world to and through South Africa, often aided by corrupt SAPS officials. Or Marianne Thamm's investigations into the now suspended public protector, Busisiwe Mkhwebane. Or Ferial Haffajee’s years-long coverage of the Zondo Commission and now the critical up-to-date information on the state of electricity. Information that the country needs to function daily.
Our Maverick Insiders have enabled the recent Cape Town taxi strike coverage by Velani Ludidi; they ensure that all of our reporters out in the field can continue to bring the truth of what’s happening to our readers.
Growth Spurt
Since Maverick Insider launched, Daily Maverick has been able to expand its coverage by creating new sections. The Our Burning Planet division is the biggest climate newsdesk on the continent. Their work has been instrumental in stopping numerous climate crimes and informing the public on the many climate-related disasters, from flash floods in KZN, droughts in Cape Town to poisoned waters everywhere.
Maverick Citizen, focusing on civil society, has not only provided the good news stories but gets into the hearts of communities. Like Estelle Ellis’ exposure of the dire state of Dora Nginza Hospital in Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth). The antenatal unit had been requesting increased staff and resources for 11 years. Six hours after her exposé on the deaths of babies, 32 new posts were created for the hospital.
The role of journalism is to “inform the public on the significant”. That doesn't just mean exposing corruption. Accordingly, we now have divisions covering business, sport, life, culture and food.
It is because of our Maverick Insiders that we were able to launch our weekly print newspaper, DM168. One of the sections in this paper, MavericKids, enabled us to create an annual activity book for children. For every book sold, we donate a copy to Gift of the Givers who, in turn, distribute them to children and communities all over South Africa. It is our Maverick Insiders who donate the majority of these books.
Maverick Insider members are not simply a bunch of affluent readers contributing cash. Many of them have little to give but they do so because they see the bigger picture. They don’t agree with every article. Many are not part of one political party. They are people with a shared spark of understanding that for South Africa to have a future, independent journalism - and Daily Maverick itself - needs to survive.
To our Maverick Insiders reading this, a simple thank you will never be enough. Your support has changed the country for the better. That’s what your monthly contribution is doing. We promise that we will continue to investigate, inform and hold those in power to account. We owe it to you.
To those who are not Maverick Insiders, there is an election next year and our country needs us. We must hire more journalists to cover every province and every metro. We want to create a unit dedicated entirely to education and job creation. We want to accelerate our climate, business and community reporting. We MUST continue our investigations.
We need your help.