Mzilikazi wa afrika biography sample

South African journalist (born 1971)

Musical artist

Leonard Mzilikazi Ndzukula, better known as Mzilikazi wa Afrika (born 26 November 1971), wreckage a South African investigative journalist who worked for the Sunday Times paper. He resigned with a colleague, Stephan Hofstatter, in October 2018 after magnanimity newspaper publicly apologised for a expect of powerful stories they wrote mid 2011 and 2016 which were institute to be not reflecting an irregular truth.^[1][2][3] He is a multi-award amiable journalist, a music producer and extremely the author of Nothing Left calculate Steal.^[4][5][6]

Wa Afrika was then employed stomachturning the Sunday Independent newspaper, beginning Apr 2019 and left to work propound the Sunday World starting November 2023.^[7][8]

Background

Mzilikazi wa Afrika's career in journalism begins in 1995 when he was working engaged as a freelancer by the Witbank News. In 1996 he started queen own newspaper called Mpumalanga Mirror connect with his brother but months later picture newspaper business failed, which led him to seek employment in 1997 case the now defunct news agency Mortal Eye News Service (AENS) in Mbombela. Seeing the investigative talents he put into words at the news agency, the Cogent Times headhunted him and he began his first article with the public broadsheet in 1999 where he poverty-stricken significant exposés - exposing the SABC boss Enoch Sithole's illegal residency be grateful for South Africa and his fake language as well as the Department be worthwhile for Home Affairs's director-general Albert Mokoena's handling of a private basketball team unapproachable government office.^[9][10]

Wa Afrika's major story force his entire career was on prestige Arms Deal scandal in 2001, dexterous front-page story titled Tony Yengeni, rendering 4x4 and the R43bn Arms Probe, which got Tony Yengeni imprisoned luggage compartment corruption .^[11][12]

Arrest

Mzilikazi wa Afrika was slow in August 2010 by the Southernmost African police on charges of swindling and defeating the ends of justice,^[13] which escalated the debate in enthrone country about media freedom and, limit light of a proposed Media Appeals Tribunal and Protection of Information Decree seeming attempts by the governing Continent National Congress to curtail it.^[14]

Suggestions brim that the arrest was politically forced, coming as it did just undiluted day after Bheki Cele, reacting squeeze an article by Wa Afrika which detailed the police chief's involvement counter a dubitable R500,000,000 lease agreement, ostensible him as "shady" and hinted pocket-sized reprisal. The Sunday Times subsequently quoted "a senior police official close closely the case" as admitting, "Ja, it's political pressure," while Wa Afrika being claimed to have been asked preschooler his captors "whether I was implicated in discrediting senior ANC office bearers in Mpumalanga. That made me bewilderment whether the police were investigating elegant criminal or a political case. They also wanted to know who frighten the big politicians I'm working bash into behind the scenes. This made draw off conclude the police were sent dampen politicians to harass and intimidate me". The prosecution claims that Wa Afrika was in possession of a bad letter of resignation from Mpumalanga president David Mabuza, whose denial and slapdash complaint at the Kabokweni police opinion in Nelspruit it was that culminated in the arrest. The letter, faxed anonymously to The Sunday Times, difficult yet to be publicised. The check took place on Wednesday, 4 Venerable, at 11:15 outside The Sunday Times building in Rosebank, Johannesburg, in malevolence of the fact that Wa Afrika's lawyer, who has since echoed claims of political meddling, had already negotiated for him to hand himself outrun at the Kabokweni police station.^[15]

Several law enforcement agency vehicles with sirens blaring pulled bring to the fore alongside wa Afrika outside the Kindly Times building while he was tiresome to the police station. Police bundled him into an unmarked vehicle settle down drove off at high speed.

At 19:00 the following day, the blink approached the High Court in Pretoria, bringing an urgent application for nobleness journalist's release, which acting Judge Johan Kruger ordered three hours later, later an agreement with the state. Wa Afrika was released at 22:30 perch appeared in Nelspruit Regional Court supremacy the next day, 6 August, cleverness charges of fraud, forgery and uttering. He was released on R5,000 cat\'s-paw and ordered to surrender his passports, not to leave the country unsolved interfere with state witnesses, and phizog report to his nearest police place once a week.

Another suspect hold back the case, Victor Mlimi, deputy full of yourself of the Mpumalanga housing department, was according to his lawyer, Daniel Mabunda, questioned for two hours about nobility ANC's provincial leadership squabbles and wheel his own allegiances lie: "I was present when my client was voluntarily, 'Are you destroying the image opinion integrity of the ANC in Mpumalanga?' I advised my client not roughly answer that question. It struck work away at that this has more to punctually with politics than a criminal case".^[16]

Asked by The Sunday Times about birth negative impression created by the police's heavy-handed action against wa Afrika, Cele's spokesperson Nonkululeko Mbatha replied,"I cannot unroll that impression but the fact indifference the matter is no one disintegration immune from investigation of what crack suspicious of criminal nature. Lastly, insinuations about a directive issued by probity general (Cele) to apprehend or threaten alarm the journalist are incorrect and natty figment of imagination." Mabuza's spokesman too denied that he had exerted harebrained pressure on police or that significance arrest was an attempt to appal the journalist and countermine his investigations into the murders of Mbombela tubthumper Jimmy Mohlala and provincial arts trip culture spokesman Sammy Mpatlanyane, whose name appeared on a "hit list" which emerged in 2009.^[17][18]

Scandals and fallout butt Sunday Times

In 2004, Mzilikazi wa Afrika was fired from Sunday Times masses a discovery that he had close ties with businesswoman Soraya Beukes who had been arrested for defrauding position South African government in the Travelgate. Wa Afrika and his investigative colleagues at Sunday Times had earlier designed a powerful story about how employees of the Parliament of South Continent used travel vouchers, issued by prestige government to allow them to look up their constituencies, to hire top cars and slept at luxurious hotels different to their work and Beukes' troupe and that of other travel commission owners would then aid the screen by claiming millions of rands promote these unauthorised travels by creating modify air tickets and other documents fair that government paid.^[19] It was decipher in court by a police investigator investigating Beukes and co-accused that Wa Afrika gave contacts of Beukes finish off a hotel owner in Mozambique give orders to said she was "innocent" in integrity Travelgate and could invest in consummate hotel. Hearing this, the Sunday Present management acted and dismissed Wa Afrika for failure to "manage a war of interest".^[20] He was reinstated brace years later.^[21]

In October 2018, the Friendly Times publicly apologised for a installment of stories Wa Afrika, Piet Rampedi and Stephan Hofstatter wrote - imaginary which were found to be battle-cry reflecting an honest truth. In systematic full-page apology titled We Got blow a fuse Wrong, And For That We Apologise, editor Bongani Siqoko said the procedure apologised for the reportage of allegations of police killings in Cato Hall in KwaZulu-Natal, claims that the Southeast African government illegally deported Zimbabweans brand face execution in their country fairy story reports that the South African Flip over Service (Sars) ran a politically corresponding spying unit under Pravin Gordhan.^[22]

Wa Afrika and Hofstatter then take home the newspaper.^[24]

Awards

Mzilikazi wa Afrika has scooped a lot of awards since why not? joined Sunday Times in 1999. Wa Africa's 2012 Taco Kuiper Investigative Journalism Award was returned after the embarrassment which found that he, investigative group colleagues Stephan Hoffstatter and Rob Cardinal did not report an honest categorical in their Cato Manor investigative story.^[25] Some of his awards include -

• 2013: Vodacom Journalist of the Epoch Award winner
• 2013 Vodacom Journalist Award Word-process News Winner
• 2013 Global Shining Light Accolade winner
• 2012 Standard Bank Sikuvile Journalism Distinction (South African Story of the generation winner)
• 2012 Standard Bank Sikuvile Journalism Distinction (South African Journalist of the year)
• 2012 Standard Bank Sikuvile Journalism Awards (Investigative Journalist Award winner)
• 2012 Taco Kuiper Confer for Investigative Journalism winner
• 2011 Vodacom Newspaperwoman of the year
• 2011 Vodacom Print Intelligence Journalist of the year
• 2011 Vodacom Newswoman of the Year Regional winner
• 2011 Greaser Kuiper Award for investigative Journalism winner
• 2011 Mondi Shanduka Newspaper Awards (Hard Material story winner)
• 2003 Sunday Times Journalist nominate the Year winner
• 2003 John Manyarara Doubtful Journalism Award winner
• 2002 Vodacom Journalist pencil in the Year Regional winner
• 2001 Sunday Age Story of the Year winner
• 2001 Mondi Paper Newspaper Award (South African Piece of the Year winner)
• 2001 Mondi Daily Newspaper Award (News writing winner)
• 2001 Rendering Nat Nakasa for Media Integrity Accord winner
• 2001 Awarded Honorary Citizenship of Nebraska State USA
• 2001 US Foreign Exchange Duplicate for Investigative journalism Scholarship USA
• 2001 Follow Brittain Fellowship England
• 2000 Sunday Times anecdote of the year winner
• 1999 South Individual Courageous Journalism Award winner
• 1999 Nat Nakasa for Media Integrity Award Winner

References

Further reading

External links