Makhudu Sefara, the editor of the Sunday Times, was placed on “special leave” on Tuesday, hours after it was revealed that a company of which he was the sole director was linked to a lottery-funded project that is under investigation by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU).
His company, Unscripted Communication, received four payments from Todi Media Foundation totalling R550,000 between 21 November and 12 December 2018 for a lottery-funded “media” project, according to the SIU.
A R1.5-million grant paid to Todi was meant to cover “journalists’ accommodation, car hire, catering, equipment rental, guest speakers, marketing, security, etc.,” according to the SIU.
But the funds were not used for their intended purpose, the SIU said. Instead, R550,000 was paid to Sefara’s company, and a further R900,000 was paid to Black Danagaree, owned by Daniel Malatji, the father of former Sunday World acting editor Ngwako Malatji.
The money was then transferred to attorneys handling the sale of a house in Bassonia Rock Extension, which was registered in the name of Ngwako Malatji and his wife, Martha. She is one of three directors of Todi.
The payments to Sefara’s company were made months before he was appointed editor of Sunday World in July 2019. Unscripted Communications, which was bought off-the-shelf in May 2018, was deregistered in January 2020 for not filing statutory annual financial returns.
Sefara, who is also chairperson of the SA National Editors Forum(SANEF), released a statement saying that when he received the funds, he was running a “private firm not attached to any institution, private or public”. He said he had run a training workshop for 50 print and radio journalists at a venue near OR Tambo Airport in Johannesburg.
“The facts are plain and available to the SIU,” he said. “The event has taken place and was attended by over 50 people. Pictures and videos were taken at the event. Accommodation was paid for. Flights were booked and paid for. The event was addressed by the GCIS deputy head at the time, along with other speakers. I facilitated the event.”
Reggy Moalusi, SANEF’s executive director, responded to questions from GroundUp, saying the organisation would issue a statement about the SIU’s revelations about Sefara. It had not been received by the time we published this report.
Nwabiso Makunga, the managing director for news at Arena, the owner of the Sunday Times, said in a statement: “Mr Sefara has denied any wrongdoing and has provided the company with his account of the events in question.
“Having considered the matter, management has resolved to afford Mr Sefara the necessary time and space to address the allegations and to seek to clear his name. Arena Holdings will appoint an independent investigator to undertake a comprehensive review of all relevant facts and circumstances surrounding the matter.
“The findings of this independent process will guide the company’s decisions going forward. Pending the conclusion of this process, Mr Sefara will take special leave.”
The SIU said that Todi had repaid the grant to it.
Second grant
The second grant involved in the SIU investigation was paid to Zibsiflo, also a shelf company, in March 2019. Martha Ngwako, the wife of former Sunday World acting editor Ngwako Malatji, was appointed as a director of the company after its purchase.
Within three months of the appointment of Martha Malatji as one of three directors, the company applied for an R8.2-million grant for “the facilitation of women’s soccer clinics”. But it was only awarded R1.7-million.
After the grant was paid to Zibsiflo on 28 February, R1.4-million was paid to Black Dangaree, owned by Martha Malatji’s father-in-law, Daniel Malatji. A further R200,000 was paid to Charles Malatji, presumably a family member, in June 2019.
On June 28, R900,000 was paid to lawyers acting in the purchase of a house in Johannesburg South, which was registered to Martha and Ngwako Malatji.
The SIU says that the grant was not used for its intended purpose and Zibsiflo’s directors were unable to account for the funds. The full amount of R1.7-million was subsequently repaid into the SIU’s account by Zibsiflo.
In a joint statement to GroundUp, Dan Makwela, Matlala Malatji and Makwape Makgobatlou, the directors of Zibsiflo and Todi Media Development Foundation, said they “acknowledge regrettable mistakes and missteps during the implementation of the two projects.
“We accept that funds earmarked for charitable purposes must be managed with the highest degree of care, accountability and transparency. The SIU advised that the grants had not been used for their intended purposes and requested repayment. Both entities repaid the funds in full.”
The SIU said it would refer Black Dangaree and Todi Media to the NPA for money laundering.
Mired in corruption
As far back as 2019, GroundUp has been raising concerns about the Sunday World’s relationship with the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) at a time that the NLC was mired in corruption.
In November 2019, we published an article titled: Does Sunday World want to do journalism or be a defender of corruption? Makhudu Sefara was editor at the time.
In August 2023, we published Exposed: The Sunday World’s lucrative partnership with the Lottery, in which we described how the Sunday World, including during the time that Sefara was editor, received a disproportionate amount of advertising money from the NLC.
At this time, GroundUp’s then editor Nathan Geffen raised concerns about Sefara with SANEF. Sefara was a SANEF management committee member. Veteran journalist Anton Harber wrote a letter to SANEF requesting an inquiry into the allegations against Sunday World.
“This inquiry needs to be chaired by people external to SANEF. The reason for this is that one of the people implicated in the article is a former editor of Sunday World and current MANCOM member of SANEF, Makhudu Sefara. It is unlikely that SANEF, with the close friendships inside the organisation, would be able to conduct an internal inquiry with sufficient credibility,” Harber wrote.
A vociferous debate took place in SANEF, and those opposing an inquiry prevailed. Geffen left SANEF, and in 2025, Sefara was elected chair of SANEF.
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