Scintillating, shocking investigations pack a punch for democracy

One of the oldest newspapers in the world, the Daily Dispatch has turned 150.

Multiple writers and journalists across the country and abroad started their journey with this media house.

Many joined the Dispatch for the love of the craft and went all the way to excel in the field, winning awards and other special honours. 

Carving a reputation for a fearless and empowering journalism has meant making great friends and dangerous enemies along the way. But the paper continues to retain love and loyalty from readers because of the quality of journalism that it has produced daily for 150 years.

It has become a relished idiom that Daily Dispatch is known as the newspaper that “punches above its weight” because it has led with scintillating stories, which other media houses have followed.

Those stories, produced by committed journalists who labour in our newsroom and range across the province getting to sources, putting eyes on the scene and getting our shoes muddy. All of this has helped shape South Africa. The Daily Dispatch is a newspaper that is respected by its peers.

In this tradition, looking at recent history, a number of our stories have set the agenda in media space in SA and abroad.

Dispatch shocked the country by exposing Frere Hospital baby deaths. Later, the Siyenza toilet scandal, with its tendrils deep in ruling party figures, ignited world attention. We also exposed how politicians doled out the Mandela funeral funds to dubious recipients.

Other big hitter projects were titled “Hostels of shame”, “Dying to live”, “We've found them!”  and the Glebelands hostel killings.

The Frere baby deaths story resulted in  an intervention by the national government which paid for the revamping of the hospital's maternity unit. Since then, there have been no major child deaths at the hospital.

The Mandela funeral scandal stories saw a number of politicians, government service providers and officials being arrested and charged for fraud. This is one of the few success stories broken by newspapers that led to the arrest of alleged fraudsters. Today the case is in its eighth year in court.

The Siyenza toilet scandal also led to the arrest of a number of people involved in the scandalous abuse of the R632m Amathole District Municipality sanitation project meant to build toilets for the rural poor.

The hostels of shame exposé was followed by the official refurbishing of a number of school hostels in the province. Today pupils have better facilities for boarding at a number of state schools thanks to the investigation.

This newspaper has also assisted ex-mineworkers to claim money from their former mine boss employers for whom they have worked for many years. Most of the beneficiaries struggling to make their claims were from rural Eastern Cape, but some were from neighbouring countries.

In December, the proposed seismic blasting of the Wild Coast by Shell was exposed by the Dispatch's climate and environment team. Globally, more than 500,000 people signed a petition to prevent the looming marine disaster. A judge interdicted the government and Shell from further air blasting. The case has been heard in the high court in Gqeberha and a ruling is awaited. However, protest arising from the Dispatch story which started at East London's Nahoon Reef parking lot went national and all oil and gas exploration rights are coming under fire for being flawed or potentially harmful to the environment and people.

These are some of the exclusive stories that determine the work that the Dispatch newspaper is known for for years and serve to highlight the positive role the paper plays in society.

These stories have won regional, national and international awards.

Despite the challenges and dwindling sales, Dispatch remains one of the strongest, most relevant newspapers in SA history.  This is why we are delighted to be celebrating our 150th year.

Quality journalism is our contribution to rebuilding a democratic South Africa.

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