The taxpayer appears to have contributed to the first edition of the New Age newspaper, which is peppered with government advertising.
Free copies of the 32-page paper were distributed at the ANC’s national general council (NGC) in Durban on Thursday.
While the first few small advertisements are for privately-owned companies, by page five there was a full-page advertisement punting the rate of service delivery by the Free State government. On page six, there was a half-page advertisement for the Gauteng provincial government’s Heritage Day celebrations at Maropeng and on page eight there was another half-page advertisement for the Gauteng Tourism Authority.
The department of arts and culture sponsored the whole of page nine, with an advertorial on, among other subjects, the success of the Soccer World Cup.
Page 21 was dominated by an advertisement on the department of public works’ contractor development programme, which is part of the expanded public works programme.
Page 30 featured a half-page advertisement by the department of communications for a memorial lecture on deceased South African Communist Party member Thabo Mofutsanyana.
However, the newspaper does not carry only government advertisements. Some of the non-govermental ads are for Cadiz, Sahara, LG, Caxton and Mvelaphanda.
By contrast, Thursday’s edition of the Star was dominated by advertisements for meat, alcohol and lifestyle items such as furniture and watches.
The front page story of the first edition was headlined “Zuma tightens his grip” and was accompanied by a picture of President Jacob Zuma speaking at the meeting.
Page three was also filled with NGC stories.
Free copies were available at all the gates to the exhibition centre, where the meeting is being held.
The people distributing it described it as a Heritage Day special edition.
It contained hard news stories, a business section, and lifestyle and sports sections.
The new daily, which is owned by TNA Media, was initially scheduled to launch in mid-September, but this was postponed to October 20.
Readers described it as “easy to read”.
“I read it. It is very appealing. The style and layout is brilliant,” said Nsiki Ngalo, a media specialist.
He liked the paper because it carried stories which he said were of interest to South Africans.
“I am happy that there is no story about [celebrity socialite] Khanyi Mbau in this paper. I hate newspapers which carry stories that promote other people’s interests,” he said.
He was not interested in reading about people’s personal lives, and said he did not like to see half-naked women in newspapers.
A television reporter said the newspaper looked like British newspapers.
“It looks professional and it looks different from other local papers.”
The newspaper has a cover price of R3,50.
Former minister in the presidency Essop Pahad is a board member of the publication. – Sapa