Many newspaper and online readers may not realise the impact the Sapa newswire has had on their lives, but a big percentage of the news South Africans consume was written by dedicated Sapa staff. Many newspaper and online readers may not realise the impact the Sapa newswire has had on their lives, but a big percentage of the news South Africans consume was written by dedicated Sapa staff.
Johannesburg - The South African Press Association (Sapa) opened up its doors to the public on Tuesday evening, to join the editorial crew and support staff in marking the last few hours of operation.
Guests were offered the opportunity to leave messages to mark the end of the remarkable journey of this wire service throughout South Africa's history.
The first news story was issued on July 1, 1938.
This will be the last.
Here is a compilation of messages in memory of Sapa...
Lloyd Coutts - eCNA:“Please convey this thought to your colleagues on this sad day. There have been many occasions when I have sunk to my knees and offered up this prayer: 'Thank you, sweet baby Jesus, for Sapa’. My career would have been a lot harder had it not been for that great institution and its journalists.”
Sue Blaine - Business Day:“Well, this is just sad. There have been so many times when a Sapa story has saved a news editor, even if they are all loathe to admit it. It was a pleasure working at Sapa. I learned a lot and had a lot of fun. I made friends who have endured. Good night Sapa.”
Mosotho Moepya - IEC:“The relationship between the IEC and Sapa spans the history of South Africa's transition to electoral democracy and it has been our privilege to work with you and your team of highly professional journalists for many years. Thank you for your support for the Electoral Commission and its mandate through your coverage of electoral democracy from our first world-changing national election to the smallest by-elections in rural towns. We could always depend on Sapa to create awareness for our activities and contribute to strengthening electoral democracy. The gap left by the closure of Sapa will not easily be filled and our country will be poorer for the diminished access to information and understanding of the people of South Africa to current events and critical issues.”
Former Sapa employee Angela Quintal:“Here lies Sapa, our continent's last independent national news agency, aged 76. Solid and unassuming in a world where ego and celebrity journalism rules. Neglected and starved by its newspaper owners in a digital age and seldom appreciated by those it served. Once an independent home and training ground for many of the country's journalists, allowed simply to wither away. A victim, not of government interference or threats to media freedom, but by the greed and short-sightedness of our own industry. A badge of shame for all those in the media who were party to its demise. Alas, it will only be mourned and truly appreciated now that it’s too late. I wish you all the very best.”
Ben Rootman, National Press Club:“It is a sad day for South African media. “This is always the case when any media channel closes down, but more so when it is a channel like Sapa that has played such a crucial role in the development of the media in our country. Being in business for 77 years is no mean feat, more so in such a cut-throat business where accuracy and speed is the order of the day.”
Eleanor Momberg, a former Sapa employee:“Sapa journalists were the real news hounds - the journalists who worked with absolute dedication, without the joy of a daily byline, to get the news out there first and accurately... I was a journalist for 30 years and can honestly say NOTHING beat working for Sapa!”
Amy Musgrave, Independent Media’s Group Labour Editor:“I was at Sapa for eight years and it gave me the grounding to become the journo I have. I remember Hannes de Wet making me run up 10 flights of stairs after my first day at court because I couldn't find a story. I was also the first journo to debate with my news editor if it was really a story. You will be greatly missed. Much love.”
Solomon Makgale, head of corporate communications for the SA Police Service:“Full circle for me... Used to sit here waiting for cryptic and poorly written statements from the cops. Now I dish out the statements, hopefully they are better! Thanks for Sapa.”
Chantelle Benjamin, Mail & Guardian:“Sapa taught me the most valuable lesson in my career - it's about the story not about the ego. One of my most memorable moments and one that summed up hard news journalism for me, involved news editor Sipke de Vries. He received a phone call saying there had been a bus accident. He asked: ‘Is anyone dead, anyone seriously injured, any children hurt, anyone famous involved? Then it’s not a story, bye.”
Toby Shapshak, editor of Stuff magazine:“‘Go to Sapa and learn to write,' the great Peta Thornycroft, my news editor at M&G, told me. I ended up working for her husband, the equally great Peter Wellman, who taught a young reporter the most important lesson in journalism: Always read your own copy before you file. They sent me to cover the Truth Commission and to follow Nelson Mandela around. And any story that strung up that day. The great thing about Sapa is nobody had a beat. One day you were a court reporter, the next day you were covering politics or crime. Every day, every reporter had to 'read in' on everything in case you caught that story. It was a golden time for South Africa, not long after Madiba became president. I don't think South Africa realises how crucial Sapa has been to journalism; and how many unsexy but important stories will now go unreported. Online journalism, particularly, will be the poorer. Three and a half hours before the final shut off, there is a still a reporter in the field (Emsie Ferriera) filing copy to the still active news desk (Kurt Swart). Sapa will be missed.”
Jenni Evans, staffer:“Technically my first assignment was as a driver for Ernest Mabuza who didn't have his licence yet and on that one dusty day in Moutse while I watched Ernest scribble notes on his knee and file by cellphone from under a tree, I got a sense of what I was in for. And I knew I was in the right place. Over the years I was sprinkled by protective water ahead of a hostel march, listened in awe as elders sang ancient songs while a goat was slaughtered for a ceremony, watched presidents come and go and always felt absolutely privileged to be up close and writing about the rollercoaster that is life in South Africa. Thank you beautiful people of Sapa and all the people we interviewed and wrote about for making my job here such an honour.”
Juliette Saunders, former staffer:“Thank you so much for the work you have done throughout your history. Ed Linington, you stand out as an editor that I've always looked up to. I appreciated the way you would step in downtable to sub copy and even more when you would type out a limerick to make us laugh. To all the amazing colleagues who worked without ego to produce a service, unheralded at the time, those of us who must endeavour to continue without your invaluable work will remember and miss you. On a personal note, this is where I met my husband 22 years ago and yes, we are still happy together! So sorry to be signing off with you all.”
Yasheera Rampersadh, eNCA:“I spent seven years at Sapa and I owe the Sapa family everything. Sapa has given me so many opportunities to grow and evolve that I cannot thank everyone here, mostly Mark, Hannes and Russell. When I heard that Sapa was closing I was so sad, I almost cried. I walked in here as a quiet, reserved girl and everyone at Sapa embraced me and encouraged me. I was able to grow personally and professionally. Sapa has taught me everything I know and I will always be very, very grateful. I was pushed to work harder and beyond what I thought I could be.”
Jill van der Velden, wife of Sapa editor:“I have ‘lived’ with the Sapa inside story for many years. Sapa time tables have become my family's time tables and holidays, parties and family outings have been rescheduled around Sapa, the big events of South Africa's unfolding history and the little events of Sapa's own internal dramas. As a close observer I wonder at the lack of corporate governance that allowed large media houses to run a company without any board members ever holding the interests of that company as their priority; I wonder at the ethics of the individuals who sat on the board that allowed them to feel comfortable hiding behind their corporate veil; and I wonder at an industry that never understood what they had in Sapa, its dedicated team of journalists working day and night pursuing an ethical delivery of news, untainted by political agendas in the interest of the public's need to know.
Matthew van der Velden, son of Sapa editor:“Sapa has always been a symbol of information and knowledge to me. Whether it was coming in to my father's offices on the weekend in the days of dial-up internet to surf the web, or reading Sapa's pieces in the daily news papers that littered our front doorstep every morning. Tomorrow Sapa's wire will go dark. South Africa will have lost its trusted source of information. I wonder what the dawn will bring for South Africa?”
Joshua van der Velden, son of Sapa editor:“Surprisingly I was born on a rather uneventful news day; besides from my birth of course. The weather was somewhat nice; followed by meeting my father Mark van der Velden. The rest of this long testimonial is written in invisible ink, do enjoy.”
Natasha Marrian, Business Day political editor:“Sapa shaped my career and I am so grateful to Ben McClennan, Kurt Swart, Thomas Hartleb and Carol Hills. It was an education. Thank you!”
Amy van der Velden, daughter of Sapa’s editor:“My father has always tried to rescue Sapa. On this sinking ship, where not only has the beer been spilled but the whole crew has had to bid adieu to their livelihoods and grab a life boat, my father has fought to the bitter end to guarantee the legacy and dignity of Sapa as it goes under.”
Sipke de Vries, former Sapa news editor:“The news is closed.”
Former Sapa editor Ed Linington:“No matter how they try, they will never replace Sapa as its soul has died with its last message tonight. For so many years Sapa was the repository of honest and independent journalism, telling the story as it was without political bias or obeyance to political masters. This was invaluable when there were deep philosophical and ethical divides between English and Afrikaans newspapers, between supporters of apartheid and those who opposed it, against a background of an overbearing state system designed to manage the news in its favour or suppress what it saw as a threat to its hegemony. Time to say goodbye.”
Mmalegabe Motsepe, eNCA:“I owe my heightened news sense to everything Sapa stood for. For so many years it stood out among the warring newspaper groups, each with its own political agenda, as the shining light of honest journalism.”
Kurt Swart, chief sub:“Thanks to Munetsi Chiunda, a genius who kept Sapa's creaking computer system running with Prestik and glue, and his team of Nolo, Dlomo and Anton. And to Devereaux Morkel who with me put out the flash of the sad news of Madiba's death.”
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