Week after week, a Durban Daily News reporter stole massive chunks of copy from a website in the United States and passed it off as his own. And the reporter, Keeran Sewsunker, who is probably South Africa’s worst serial plagiarist, is still at his desk.
At first glance, Sewsunker’s column, Business Roundup, appears to be a savvy take on the rough-and-tumble world of entrepreneurship. He has a picture byline and he does not appear to credit or quote any other publication. Which is a pity, because most of his work has been stolen, word for word, from the United States Entrepreneur magazine’s website. The magazine is now threatening legal action.
Sewsunker referred the Mail & Guardian Online‘s queries to Daily News editor Dennis Pather, who said an investigation was under way — part of a disciplinary process.
The Independent Group has now also taken the unusual step of pulling all Seersunker’s articles from its online archives.
Journalism student Reesha Chibba — editor of DITonline, a student news website based at the Durban Institute of Technology and the publication that first broke the story — said she became suspicious after she didn’t see any sources in Sewsunker’s column and started to investigate on August 23.
”I was curious. He just didn’t have any. So I googled one of his articles and saw that the whole thing had been plagiarised. It’s so blatant and sets a stupid example for student journalists.”
The M&G Online can confirm that on June 7, 14 and 21; July 5, 12 and 26; and August 2, 16 and 23, Sewsunker copied substantial portions of text from Entrepreneur.com articles.
This is not the first time a plagiariser has been exposed in recent years by a journalism student. A Rhodes student working at the Saturday Star uncovered evidence of plagiarism by then Sunday Independent columnist Darrel Bristow-Bovey in 2003.
In a July 26 article, entitled ”Research your market on a budget”, Sewsunker ”writes”: ”Would you shell out R1 000 for a pair of shoes without trying them on? Plunge into a steaming bath without dipping a toe in first? Of course not, but people do the business equivalent every day.”
The Entrepreneur.com article, written by journalist Isabella Trebond, reads: ”Would you shell out $200 for a pair of shoes without trying them on? Plunge into a steaming bath without dipping a toe in first? Of course not — but people do the business equivalent every day.”
Corporate counsel for Entrepreneur.com, Ron Young, told the M&G Online the magazine is considering legal action.
”Entrepreneur has not received any compensation for, and otherwise has not authorised, publication of any of its content by Mr Sewsunker or the Daily News.”
By way of explanation, Pather said Sewsunker was tasked with collating material for the finance page of the Daily News.
Pather said Sewsunker’s column was ”compiled by, but not necessarily written by him”, despite the fact that he never attributed anything to Entrepreneur.com.
At the time of going to press, the Daily News had not issued any apology or clarification.
Here are just a few examples of Sewsunker’s handiwork:
”How to tell if you can go it alone” vs ”Should you turn your hobby into a business?”
Daily News:
How committed are you?
Successful entrepreneurs are committed to their businesses. This is simple to understand, but difficult to put into practice.
Are you the type of person who has many hobbies and likes to dabble without commitment? Would you be easily distracted by the next business idea that strikes your fancy? When faced with a task, successful entrepreneurs are generally committed to excel and will not waver when the going gets tough.
Entrepreneur:
How committed are you?
Successful entrepreneurs are committed to their businesses. This is simple to understand, but difficult to put in practice. Are you the type of person who has many hobbies and likes to dabble without commitment? Would you be easily distracted by the next business idea that strikes your fancy? When faced with a task, successful entrepreneurs are generally committed to excel and will not waver when the going gets tough.
”Assemble a portrait of your customer” vs ”On target”
Daily News:
When creating a customer profile, you will want to use secondary research to answer questions such as:
How many people in the Durban area are between 29 and 45 years old?
How many of these are married?
How many couples have young children?
How many have a combined household income of R120 000 or more?
Entrepreneur:
When creating a customer profile, you’ll want to use secondary research to answer questions like the following:
How many people in the Denver area are between 29 and 45 years old?
How many of these are married?
How many couples have young children (under age 10)?
How many have a combined household income of $60 000 or more?
”The challenge of making it on your own” vs ”Bootstrapping your start-up”
Daily News:
Make a map
Mapping out a finance strategy is a vital — and often overlooked — part of the business plan. It is easy to project growth in sales and staff, but until those sales are made and paid, where will the cash come from to buy raw materials, pay salaries and provide overhead? This is an important lesson to learn early on. Since it often takes weeks or months to collect money from sales, financing a business from sales revenue only is really an exercise in advance planning.
Entrepreneur:
Make a map
Mapping out a finance strategy is a vital — and often overlooked — part of the business plan. It is easy to project growth in sales and staff, but until those sales are made and paid, where will the cash come from to buy raw materials, pay salaries and provide overhead? This is an important lesson to learn early on. Since it often takes weeks or months to collect money from sales, financing a business from sales revenue only is really an exercise in advance planning.
”Cutting costs could keep you in business” vs ”50 ways to save money in your business”
Daily News:
On a shoestring budget, it really pays to scrimp and save. Just in case you have forgotten the value of the hard-earned cent, the Daily News has come up with a slew of money-saving ideas to boost your business’s bottom line — from cutting your legal bills to inexpensive ways to draw in customers.
Entrepreneur:
On a shoestring budget (and what entrepreneur isn’t?), it really pays to scrimp and save. Just in case you’ve forgotten the value of a hard-earned penny, we’ve come up with a slew of money-saving ideas to boost your business’s bottom line — from cutting your legal bills to inexpensive ways to draw in customers. Though some tips will save you more money than others, the end result of your overall spendthrift strategy could add up to a bundle.