The editor of the Cape Times, Tyrone August, has resigned following an apparent dispute with management of the Independent group of newspapers.
August declined to comment, but it is understood that he told his staff on Monday afternoon that he had just handed in his resignation.
Previously editor of prestigious business magazine Leadership, he had been at the helm of the paper since March 2006.
It is understood that the dispute related to management plans to rationalise sub-editing functions in the group’s titles by establishing a single national sub-editing desk, a move which would result in the retrenchment of more than 20 sub-editors throughout the country.
Employees on the Cape Times and the Cape Argus, both Independent titles, have formed a staff association to fight the move and are enlisting the aid of a union.
August is understood to have told his staff that he quit because he could no longer share the company’s vision for the newspaper. — Sapa