Dubbed by many as one of South Africa’s boldest cartoonists, Jonathan Shapiro — Zapiro — was named overall winner and Journalist of the Year at the annual Mondi Shanduka newspaper awards held in Sandton, Johannesburg, on Wednesday evening.
The Mail & Guardian won the investigative journalism category for “Oilgate” by Stefaans Brümmer, Sam Sole and Wisani wa ka Ngobeni, as well as the Joel Mervis Trophy, which recognises urban weekly newspapers.
Trevor Ncube, M&G’s CEO, was named as one of Print Media South Africa’s three newspaper fellows.
The Print Media Fellowship Awards recognise individuals for their devotion and energy in furthering the interests of the newspaper and print-media industry over a number of years.
The Mondi Shanduka newspaper awards honour newsmen and newswomen who excel in bringing us breaking news, in-depth features, provocative commentary, captivating photographs, and innovative layouts and spreads.
Editor Ferial Haffajee said the awards proved that M&G was at the forefront of journalism in South Africa, while Shapiro told the Mail & Guardian Online that he was completely surprised by his award.
“It’s not something that a cartoonist would expect. It’s extremely gratifying for a cartoonist to have been recognised in this way. It was a complete surprise,” he said.
Cartoonists fulfilling the same role as journalists is something that is “not new” said Shapiro. “I feel that I’m more of a journalist than I am an artist. I’m 80% journalist and 20% artist.”
He said he is driven by a passion for current events and panic.
In May last year, “Oilgate” the M&G exposed how R11-million of public money was diverted to African National Congress coffers ahead of the 2004 elections.
Both Brümmer and Sole agreed that some credit should go to their colleagues, Haffajee and Ncube. “They supported us through thick and thin,” said Brümmer.
He said they are glad that others in the wider media joined and supported them — that they recognised “Oilgate” to be a worthwhile story and “got onto the bandwagon and started writing about the same issues”.
Sole said: “In this case, the media put other institutions who were supposed to promote accountability to shame.”
“We hope that there is some real competition next year. The judges in fact commented that they didn’t really have a choice. There weren’t any other really worthwhile entries in the investigations category. We certainly hope that there’s a young generation of investigative reporters out there raring to start up and start exposing,” said Brümmer.
Wisani wa ka Ngobeni, told M&G Online that winning the award is “a great thing” because it has recognised “the efforts that we made”.
“I feel great being recognised by my own peers. The story has profound implications. A lot of institutions can obviously draw lessons from this episode. I think that we are playing a great role in entrenching democracy,” he said.
In previous years, the M&G print has dominated the investigative journalism category. In 2002, Ngobeni was the winner and in 2003, Brümmer and Sole were the winners. In 2004, there were no winners.
The awards were judged by Guy Berger, Sarah Crowe, Johan De Wet, John Dludlu, Ethel Hazelhurst, Portia Kobue, Joe Thloloe and Siphiwe Nyanda.
The other winners, according to category, were:
Breaking news: Jonathan Ancer — The Star — “1 man vs the mob”
Analysis, follow-ups and commentary: Sithembiso Msomi — City Press — “OR invoked in battle for ANC”
Feature Writing: Die Burger — whole series, including “Laat daar lig wees in the Karro” and Beauregard Tromp — The Star — “A Rwandan love story” and LRA in Uganda stories
Creative Journalism: Fred Khumalo — Sunday Times “Christmas with the Khumalos”
Graphical Journalism: Anton Vermeulen — Beeld — “Wonde wat nie weggaan’ and ‘Koopbeginsel gaan te gronde”
News photographers: Anton Hammerl — Saturday Star — “Mugger meets his match as woman fights back”
Feature photographs: Alet Pretorius — Beeld — ‘Shaik court saga”
Presentation: Arlene Prinsloo — Die Burger — “Hamba, Zuma”
On the net
M&G Online‘s Mondi Shanduka Awards page with downloads of all winning entries