A biweekly newspaper distributed free to hundreds of thousands of Metrorail passengers belongs to the African National Congress Youth League’s (ANCYL) treasurer general, Pule Mabe.
KG Media, of which Mabe is one of two directors, privately registered the title Hambanathi (‘travel with usâ€) in 2008 after the newspaper was launched and later discontinued by Metrorail in May 2007.
At the time of the launch Mabe was Metrorail’s communications head.
Metrorail — now part of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) — and Mabe deny any conflict of interests.
The following significantly challenge these denials:
- KG Media registered the trademark ”Hambanathi” a year after Metrorail officially launched the same brand with state funds;
- There is no indication that Mabe or KG Media bought the title from Metrorail when it was registered in 2008, or that Metrorail publicly tendered for a private company to relaunch the title;
- Although Prasa does not subsidise the paper, it is one of Hambanathi’s advertisers; and
- By agreeing to distribute Hambanathi free on its major routes, Metrorail immediately and without charge gives Mabe’s company access to a captive audience — hundreds of thousands of commuters who spend significant times travelling daily on its trains.
According to Hambanathi’s website — closed after the Mail & Guardian spoke to Mabe last week — a full-page colour advertisement sells for R56Â 852. Advertisers pay R49Â 890 for a black-and-white ad of the same size.
The newspaper’s advertising rates card also boasts of its special relationship with Prasa. It is the ”only publication authorised … to be distributed exclusively to commuters using the Metrorail network nationwide”.
Mabe denied having an ”exclusive” deal with Prasa, saying many media companies targeted public transport users. He blamed the ”mistake” in the rates card on his company’s advertising department.
”Even before I joined Metrorail [as spokesperson] in 2006, I already had the Hambanathi concept … By the time I joined Metrorail, I shifted my plans. I couldn’t do something that conflicted [with] the corporation,” Mabe said.
”When I got to Metrorail, I found that they already had an idea to start a national newspaper. But they didn’t have proper focus; they weren’t very journalistic.
”I used my own journalistic experience and said we must focus … they decided on the name Hambanathi. I told them I always wanted to start a paper called Hambanathi.”
Mabe said that as Metrorail’s communications boss, he was involved in the paper’s design and launch in May 2007. He claimed there was ”resistance” in the company to launching a newspaper, but he continued lobbying.
Shortly after the launch, the paper was closed down. ”They stopped [publishing] in 2007, almost immediately after the media launch. They had only two editions or so … The reason was that Metrorail had to focus more on local media. And on a corporate level it was changing names.”
After Mabe was elected ANCYL treasurer general in April 2008, he resigned from Metrorail. Six months later Hambanathi, the masthead of which clearly resembles Metrorail’s yellow-and-white colours, was relaunched — this time as a publication of KG Media.
”There’s no problem here. When I started Hambanathi I advised the comrades of my intention, that I would precisely use that name.
”I need to sit down and show you the different Hambanathis. The Hambanathi that Metrorail published was internally focused. The name is the only thing; everything else is different … I didn’t take a single thing from what Metrorail was doing.”
Mabe said he was considering changing the newspaper’s title to avoid confusion.
Prasa spokesperson Tiro Holele said the agency was using ”niche and targeted transport publications like Hambanathi” on an ongoing basis.
”No contract was awarded to Mr Mabe by Prasa. There is a partnership agreement between Prasa and KG Media on the coverage by Hambanathi of Prasa’s business, its transformation and modernisation, through advertorials and articles …”
Meanwhile, Prasa has launched an internal investigation into claims that a private company (Africa Rising Leadership and Management Practitioners), of which Metrorail chief executive Sisa Mtwa and the company’s Western Cape regional manager, Steve Ngobeni, are directors, has benefited from Metrorail tenders.
The M&G brought it to Prasa’s attention that Africa Rising boasted on the internet about its business relationship with Metrorail.
Prasa also confirmed it is investigating alleged irregularities relating to the award of security tenders in Gauteng. A company without the necessary skills or equipment was allegedly appointed to safeguard trains in Johannesburg at a cost of R1,2-million more a month than the previous service provider.
