Paper Tiger: Iqbal Survé and the downfall of Independent Newspapers

by Alide Dasnois, Chris Whitfield

‘Johannesburg – Late on Friday night, Iqbal Survé phoned Mandla Mandela, the ailing statesman’s “Tell Madiba, Independent’s coming home,” he said. “If there’s one thing that will make him get better faster, it’s this,” the younger Mandela responded.’ This is how one of Independent Newspapers’ titles told its readers in April 2013 that it had been bought by Iqbal Survé’s Sekunjalo Independent Media Consortium for R2 billion. The journalists of South Africa’s biggest newspaper firm, which counted 'The Star', 'Cape Times' and 'The Mercury' among its titles, were optimistic that new, local ownership would mark an end to the callous management of its Irish overlords of the previous two decades. But the day after Nelson Mandela died, a storm engulfed the group when Survé fired 'Cape Times' editor Alide Dasnois amid accusations of disrespect towards Mandela although many pointed to a 'Cape Times' story about one of his companies as the real reason for his ire. In the dramatic days that followed, Independent’s newsrooms across the country were torn apart by suspicion, recriminations and what many of the journalists believed was a witch hunt to expel those not prepared to toady to Survé. Now Dasnois and Chris Whitfield, who was head of the Cape papers at the time of the ownership change, tell the inside story of the Survé reign.

170 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 13, 2019

Reviews

[Rodney Hawkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting short insiders account of the buyout of Independent Media. As we see in 2019 and 2020, with the State Capture inquiries, Iqbal still portrays himself as the hard done by hero which as we see in this book is far from the truth. Just like other sycophants, he sees the media as a way of promoting his cronies and business interests which are often misguided.

[Gemma · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must-read for South African journalists.

[Sarah-Leah Pimentel · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent and sobering reflection of what happens to journalism when it plays second fiddle to commercial and private interests. And it's an early cautionary tale of what is also happening far beyond our borders.

[Matthew Field · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good to see Lord Iqbal's secrets finally being revealed. What a disgrace to journalism he's been

[Lumumba Mthembu · Rating 2 out of 5]

Would’ve loved Survé’s side of the story. Tell-all exposés are good and all but one can’t be taken in hook, line and sinker. Survé comes out of this 1 looking like Satan himself