Johannesburg - Key editorial appointments have been made by Independent Media at its Cape Town newsrooms, the media company announced on Monday.
Independent Media said the new appointments would underpin the future of one of South Africa’s oldest publishing groups.
The appointments are a lesson in tenacity, hope and the realisation of how hard work and dreaming big can become reality, the media company said on Monday.
From August 15, the Cape Argus and the Daily Voice will have new editors, while Aziz Hartley has been appointed group editor-in-chief, vacating his editorship at the Cape Argus.
Current group editor-in-chief Aneez Salie has been appointed editorial and content director.
Taariq Halim, current editor of the Daily Voice, has been appointed as the new editor of the Cape Argus.
Wesley April, who was an acting editor of the Weekend Argus, has been appointed as the new Daily Voice editor.
The appointments come at a time when the company is “facing a massive challenge at present”, with Standard Bank threatening to cut ties with the company.
Independent Media remains committed to media freedom and has been in the forefront of transforming the media sector. The new appointments resonated with the company’s objectives of representing a cross-section of all the voices of the country, for all sides of the South African story to be heard.
“Independent Media believes in the free press, democracy, the SA Constitution, the country’s justice system, and the hope that sanity will prevail,” the Group said in a statement.
“We are here to stay. We will not be silenced.”
Hartley, who has been with the company for over 40 years having first been employed as a janitor, said he was honoured to be appointed editor-in-chief.
“It's a great honour for me to be given this responsibility. I'm truly humbled. I'd like to express my appreciation to Dr Survé for the opportunity and while I'm anxious and excited about what lies ahead, I will do what I've always done in all my previous roles - and that is to give my best,” he said.
Halim, who replaces Hartley at the Cape Argus, first joined Independent Media as an intern for the Cape Argus in 1999.
He returned in 2006 to work at the Daily Voice, before being appointed editor of the Daily Voice in 2016.
He will now edit his first love.
April, the new editor of the Daily Voice, has spent his entire career with Independent Media beginning as an intern and brings energetic enthusiasm and a keen eye for content that resonates with readers, to the table.
"It feels like my journey has come full circle with Independent Media, beginning as an intern and now as an editor.
“I am excited and grateful for the opportunity to edit the Daily Voice and I look forward to building on the successes of the newspaper and servicing our readers with the best content on offer.
“I would like to thank Dr Survé for the opportunity and all those who have played a role in my career and journey at Independent Media,” he said.
Independent Media chairman Dr Iqbal Survé has congratulated the new appointees.
“I would like to congratulate and acknowledge the important role that each of these new appointments has in the story of South Africa’s transformation journey.
“They are testament to the growth and development of our evolving media landscape and are custodians of media freedom, standing firm on the need to tell the story of South Africa’s rich and varied cultural, political, social, and economic developments,” he said.
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