Ferial Haffajee (born 20 February 1967) is a

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

n journalist and newspaper editor. Haffajee was editor of '' City Press'' newspaper from July 2009 until July 2016 and was previously the editor of the ''

Mail & Guardian The ''Mail & Guardian'', formerly the ''Weekly Mail'', is a South African weekly newspaper and website, published by M&G Media in Johannesburg, South Africa. It focuses on political analysis, investigative reporting, Southern African news, loca ...

'' newspaper. Haffajee was awarded the 2014 International Press Freedom Award by the

Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in New York City, with correspondents around the world. CPJ promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists. The '' American Journalism ...

and was appointed to the board of the

International Press Institute International Press Institute (IPI) is a global organisation dedicated to the promotion and protection of press freedom and the improvement of journalism practices. The institution was founded by 34 editors from 15 countries at Columbia Universit ...

in 2011. Haffajee is currently Associate Editor at the

Daily Maverick ''Daily Maverick'' is an independent, South African, English language, online news publication and weekly print newspaper, with offices in the country's two most populous cities: Cape Town (the site of its headquarters) and Johannesburg. ...

, and was previously editor-at-large a
HuffPost South Africa
until it ended its partnership with Media24 in 2018.

Early life and career

Haffajee grew up in

Bosmont Bosmont is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. Bosmont is located in Region 4. Bosmont is located in the West Rand of Johannesburg and nearly all of its residents are Coloured. History It was during the sixties that people of colour were fo ...

, a suburb of

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

. Her father was a clothing factory worker. She is an alumna of the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), commonly known as Wits University or Wits, is a multi-campus Public university, public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg, South Africa. The universit ...

. Haffajee was a cub reporter at ''Mail & Guardian'' and has acted as its associate editor, media editor and economics writer at various times. Before taking up the editorship she held jobs at state broadcaster

SABC The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is the public broadcaster in South Africa, and provides 19 radio stations (Amplitude modulation, AM/Frequency modulation, FM) as well as 6 television broadcasts and 3 OTT Services to the general ...

, as a radio producer and television reporter, and at the ''

Financial Mail ''Financial Mail'' (or the ''FM'', as it is also known) is a South African business publication focused on reaching the country's leading business people. This weekly publication, which was launched in 1959, underwent a major "look and feel" ch ...

'' magazine, where she was a senior editor responsible for political coverage and the managing editor.

''Mail & Guardian'' editorship

Haffajee was appointed editor of ''Mail & Guardian'' at the age of 36 effective from 1 February 2004, two years after control of the paper was acquired by

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

an publisher Trevor Ncube. In 2005 the paper became one of the few publications, after the regime change of 1994, interdicted from publishing specific stories. In 2006 the paper was again interdicted, and Haffajee threatened, after republishing controversial cartoons depicting

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

. In March 2009 ''Mail & Guardian'' announced Haffajee's resignation, saying she would take up the position of editor of ''City Press'' in July. Previous speculation had identified her as a potential appointee as head of news at the

Publication

* received mixed reviews. One reviewer wrote "the central thrust of the book... argues that black South Africans, especially the new generation of young black, 'born frees', are obsessed with whiteness and white privilege". Haffajee's contention is that if all whites had left South Africa and their wealth divided among the poor, poverty would hardly have been dented. The controversial Dan Roodt has noted that underlying her "pastiche of Bosmont memoir, office gossip, antiwhite resentment and racial econometrics, is the idea that whites should ideally disappear".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Haffajee, Ferial 1967 births Living people Writers from Johannesburg South African newspaper editors University of the Witwatersrand alumni 20th-century South African journalists 21st-century South African journalists