Associate editor Ferial Haffajee is to become the new editor of the Mail & Guardian, it was announced on Thursday.
Haffajee was a trainee at the newspaper in 1991. She is now the only woman editor of a major South African newspaper.
Haffajee (36) takes over from Mondli Makhanya, who is to take up the post of editor at the Sunday Times in February.
Haffajee told the Mail & Guardian Online on Thursday morning that she had had her eye on the job for some time.
“I’ve been offered other leadership positions, and I’ve not taken them. This is a dream job,” she said.
“I think that Mondli and Trevor [Ncube — CEO of M&G Media] set the tone for a 21st-century Mail & Guardian. So I’ll continue on that path. The key areas will remain strong investigative journalism, and to be a political trends leader. We will continue to be a leader in our coverage of the rest of Africa and we will also keep our place as the home of cutting-edge features and photojournalism.”
She will focus on gender issues and recognise female leadership: “It’s nice that leadership in different forms is recognised, but we must also remember this has always been a place with women in leadership.”
Makhanya, who was also once a trainee at the paper, said: “Ferial’s appointment makes leaving the M&G less painful.”
He said the ethos of the newspaper lives in Haffajee and she is undoubtedly one of the finest minds in journalism.
“She has strong views about the values that should define the character of this republic,” he said.
Before her associate editorship at the M&G Haffajee worked as a radio producer and television reporter at the South African Broadcasting Corporation and as managing editor at the Financial Mail.