Aparthed INC, the story of Naspers, Media24 and Channel Life
A NEW global multimedia megacorporation is determining the future of communications on Planet Earth. From cradle to grave, chances are your life is already affected and controlled by Channel Life. If you attend Damelin Collage or City Varsity, buy tickets via Computicket or access broadband with MWeb, your life has been inextricably altered by Channel Life. Whether you surf Facebook, play with Mixit (until recently 100% owned by Naspers) , read ZigZag or Saltwater Girl or any one of 60 magazine titles, or watch the plethora of Multichoice Television programmes on DSTV via a vast array of platforms owned ultimately by insurance giant Sanlam you may knowingly or unknowingly be a part of the Channel Life experience. If Channel Life did not exist, then someone would have had a good cause to create the term to express the way humanity is increasingly becoming interconnected through communications technology. Problem though, Channel Life does exist and it describes a lot more than a shareholder stake in a complex holding structure behind today’s networked mega-corporation.
The Rise of Apartheid Media It was not always this way. South Africa until fairly recently was a rather insular and isolated country. As a British Colony and Union prior to Independence, its press was predominately Liberal and English and except for one or two newspapers from the Transvaal, local publishing was for the most part unexceptional. On May 12, 1915 a small company by the name of Naspers was incorporated under the laws of the then Union of South Africa as a public limited liability company. Naspers, short for Nationale Pers or National Press, reflected the dominant concerns behind Afrikaner Nationalism which had endured defeat during the Anglo-Boer war, a war which is now known as the South African War. Along with the rise of the Apartheid state, Naspers rapidly became associated with political factions agitating for independence from Britain, and a Republic divided along strict racial lines where segregation into distinct race groups would be enforced by laws rather than mere societal norms and where the reigns of power would be in the hands of a secret society which acted independently of the ruling party. In 1914 the republican militarist, J.B.M. Hertzog had formed the National Party. The following year Naspers was formed by Hertzog along with a daily newspaper, De Burger, later known as Die Burger. A vainglorious and zealous theologian by the name of D F Malan was persuaded to become editor. Malan accepted the post only after relinquishing his position as a minister in the conservative Dutch Reformed Church.
By David Robert Lewis
A Cape branch of Hertzog’s National Party had been formed the same year and Malan, leveraging his position as editor and with the backing of the Afrikaans media was not surprisingly, elected as its provincial leader. Despite the objections of a small minority within the Afrikaner establishment who believed “the dominee” unfit to lead, Malan was elected to Parliament three years later in 1918,
the same year a secret society known as the Afrikaner Broederbond, was formed, ostensibly to protect Afrikaner interests.
A Dutch immigrant, Verwoerd was a graduate in psychology from the Universities of Hamburg, Berlin and Leipzig where he had absorbed the racist theories of eugenics which underlined the apartheid science of the day and which now informed his masterplan for the subjugation of those Thus with the full support of the corporation, and the deemed to be of an “inferior” race. In 1927 Verwoerd was Broederbond, the National Party was catapulted into power the post of Professor of Applied Psychology at the in 1924, for a brief moment under the leadership of Hertzog, given University Stellebosch before becoming the editor of Die where Malan, still editor, and the Silvio Berlusconi of his day, Transvaler,of a title later purchased by Naspers. was given the post of Minister of the Interior, Education and Public Health, a position which he held until 1933.
Post-Apartheid Window-dressing In the South Africa of the 1930s white consensus politics prevailed, the United Party was thus formed out of the merger between Hertzog’s National Party and the rival South African Party of Jan Smuts. According to historians Malan strongly opposed the merger however, and he and 19 other MPs defected to form the Gesuiwerde Nationale Party or ‘Purified National Party”, which Malan led for the next fourteen years as part of the all-white opposition. Malan was not surprisingly vehemently opposed to South Africa’s participation in World War II, and openly sympathised with Nazism and Hitler’s brownshirts. Since the allies and the British were immensely unpopular amongst the Afrikaner, it stood to reason that much would be gained from beating the drum of fascism and Afrikaner nationalism. This directly led to a split in the ruling party and dramatically increased Malan’s popularity amongst disgruntled whites with the result that he was able to defeat Smuts and the United Party in the election of 1948 in what must surely rate as one of the worst moments in South African history. Without the racist machinations of D. F. Malan who wished to remove those known, as “coloureds” (in the peculiar parlance of South Africa’s race system) from the voters roll while relegating “black” South Africans to the status of foreigners, and bolstered by the enthusiastic support of the Naspers corporation, the foundation stone for apartheid would never have been laid.
Clearly, this is not the history channel of champions that we see at Multichoice today. The online historical record of Naspers conveyed by its powerful corporate presence on the web is rather a marvel of reinvention. Corporate heroes such as Koos Bekker, Hein Brand and Ton Vosloo are now the stuff of the capitalist rainbow nation whose pot of gold is touted by the ruling ANC as the saviour of the people. How is such an oversight and whitewash of the history of apartheid and the civil rights movement possible? Remarkable though it may seem, the entire period prior to PW Botha’s tricameral parliament has been redacted on Naspers’ branded Media24 website into a few cursory sentences, which appear to give the authenticity and authorship of history , but instead relegate the role of the corporation and its active participation in the system of apartheid to a quaint footnote. The role of Malan, his successor Piet Cillie and business partner Hendrik Verwoerd have been quietly forgotten. If one takes the trouble to discover the truth behind the Naspers empire, its holding company Sanlam, the many front companies set up along the way, amidst the decay of memory and the passage of time, a different story emerges. A story of greed, prejudice, hatred and racial oppression.
More likely, as with so many British colonies and protectorates that achieved democratic independence after World War Two, African nationalism would have simply taken its natural course. The white minority would have been forced to accept the “Winds of Change” which were blowing A corporation which massively benefited from the apartheid system and which in many respects was over the continent. inseparable from the National Party and the race-based system created by D F Malan and those who succeeded Instead what occurred was a travesty of justice as a country him, and which even to this day, refuses to acknowledge which had committed soldiers in the cause of freedom, now any responsibility for wrong-doing. committed itself to actively enslaving its own countrymen. Naspers for example, did not participate in the media The outcome of D F Malan’s Naspers-backed tinkering with hearings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the political system resulted in what we now know as a failed to submit anything more than a copy of Oor Grense crime against humanity – the institutionalisation of racial Heen, the “official” history of Naspers. segregation in the form of apartheid, along with job reservation for whites, which under the regime of Malan and subsequent National Party leaders was given the full force of Unlike several other South Africa media companies, which participated in these hearings, Naspers refused to support law. the commission and instead chose to go it alone, essentially believing in its own ability to convince others of the moral Although parallels existed in the experience of segregation in rectitude of its position and in the power of a rebranding the USA – the Southern States had literally fought a civil war exercise. Naspers’ media division is now known as Media24 to defend slavery and class privilege and lost — the civil and is tasked with providing a façade of reconciliation rights movement on the continent had consigned segregation which speaks to an emerging black comprador class which on the basis of race and skin-colour to the rubbish heap. can be divided and ruled so that white privilege may be Instead while Martin Luther King was giving his famous “I secured via proxy. have a dream” speech, and America was turning its back on segregation, South Africa was embracing a system of grand apartheid which denied blacks full citizenship and consigned Naspers, as we will find out, has absolutely nothing to do with actual media. Rather it is in turn, a front company for objectors to what were known as bantustans, under the evil a complex investment scheme, effectively known as doctoring of another broederbonder with media ties by the Channel Life and a secret society called the Broederbond name of Hendrik Verwoerd. (not the Afrikanerbond) which has links to other secret societies like the Bilderbergers and Freemasons around the world.
Popular politicians such as Vallie Moosa and party apparatchiks like Maria Ramos (wife of Trevor Manual) hold stakes in the holding company which rules behind the scenes via secrecy, propaganda and deception, intelligent double-speak in which two completely separate messages compete for our attention. On the one hand we are told to believe in the moral virtues of truth and reconciliation without the company coming clean about apartheid or telling the truth, on the other, the historical record created by the National Party and the Broederbond is allowed to go unchallenged while reconciliation (read limited Black Economic Empowerment) is turned into a multitude of increasingly complex local share-schemes and dilution of share capital. The new media conglomerate routinely shifts investment back and forth, from South Africa and abroad, with interest in its core business in the New World Order carefully masked by local share schemes.
of propaganda projects. Plans included bribes of international news agencies and the purchase of a Washington newspaper. Needless to say, it is the Naspers corporation which ultimately benefited from its close association with the National Party. With the advent of electronic media in the 1980s and firmly in the pockets of the apartheid government, Naspers expanded its economic activities to incorporate paytelevision and later Internet platforms. Drawing upon the huge concessions awarded it by the Nationalist regime via a sophisticated and often reckless system of government tenders, kickbacks and outright cronyism, what would become known as the Naspers Group, then variously MIH Naspers, Multichoice and then Channel Life, effectively bootstrapped itself upon the success of the National Party and its dealings with the new regime which would follow.
Naspers is now duel-listed on the JSE and the London Stock Exchange. In essence two holding companies, with two balance sheets. The supposed “secondary” London listing is the result of the primary consolidation of several listings made via NAFTA deals representing the “American Deposit Receipt” ownership in the “shares of a non-U.S. company that trades in U.S. financial markets”.
In 1985, at the height of government censorship and the all out propaganda effort which had resulted from the Cold War and numerous “states of emergency” imposed by the securocrat PW Botha, Naspers and several South African media companies, seemingly unaffected by political unrest and interference from the apartheid Bureau for State Security (BOSS), formed an electronic pay-media business, M-Net. M-Net was listed on the JSE Securities exchange South Africa five years later in 1990.
A glossy annual report paints a glowing picture of a media company, which appears to have transformed from a pariah into a modern media conglomerate – a global corporation with assets in Europe, Asia, Africa and South America – a 2006 annual report for example refers to a “chain of integrity” in which apartheid cronies sit alongside struggle heroes like Jakes Gerwel, appointed to the board in 1998 as part of its rebranding exercise.
During the reign of nationalist leader PW Botha (the 9th Prime Minister of the first Republic of South Africa) whose paranoid security cabinet had fomented a silent putsch by the military under General Magnus Malan, installing itself as the final arbiter over the apartheid state, and amidst a general clampdown on civil rights in particular free speech, which built upon the earlier police-states of JB Vorster and Hendrik Verwoerd, Naspers prospered.
Naspers is in all reality the tactical media wing of the reformed Broederbond, a secret society which still functions as an exclusive club for South Africa’s rulers. A circular published by the society reads: ‘The Afrikanerdom shall reach its ultimate destiny of domination in South Africa . . . Brothers, our solution for South Africa’s troubles is not that this or that party shall gain the upper hand, but that the Afrikaner Broederbond shall rule South Africa.”
The State of Emergency was a time in which "blacks" were denied the vote except in the “bantustans” while so-called “coloured” and “Indian” were given separate rule at home in a practice known as separate development, Naspers began an aggressive expansion resulting in the acquisition of a 50% stake in Jane Raphealy and Associates, a well-known publisher of various women’s magazines targeted at the "white market".
Many people who find themselves employed by the company, may not realize the terrible truth. Media24 managers appear to have forgotten about the prominent apartheid figures which once graced the lavish corporate headquarters on Cape Town’s foreshore, despite global condemnation of their deeds, their portraits remain.
South Africa’s media was by no means entirely complicit. Despite enormous pressure from the state , the danger of government spies, embedded journalists and constant harassment from security police, an alternative press had come into being largely as a result of opposition by the antiapartheid movement. The parallel history of those who wrote and worked at titles such as South, Grassroots, New Nation, Weekly Mail and Vrye Weekblad is related in a number of historical narratives such as Les Switzer and Mohammed Adhikari “South Africa’s Resistance Press”.
We must therefore tell the honest truth, another separate and parallel story of the modern rise to power of Channel Life, a company which exists on paper alone and which is the key to understanding the manner in which Sanlam, Naspers and in turn Media24 has become a front for power struggles around the globe.
The Information Scandal FOLLOWING Watergate and the Vietnam war, South Africa would be rocked by its very own media debacle of the 1970s. The Information Scandal as it was known, involving National Party interference in the English press and a dirty tricks campaign which had been waged against both the anti-apartheid movement and governments abroad which dared to interfere in the policy of apartheid. Huge amounts of money were shifted under the government of B J Vorster and his genuflecting Minister of Information, Connie Mulder in a propaganda war which saw the attempted purchase of the Washington Star. In 1973 Vorster agreed to Mulder’s plan to shift about 64 million rand from the defense budget to undertake a series
Most fail to note the obvious dilemma of anybody writing such a history, by at once denying the inevitability of change, and papering over the problem resulting from a complex historical period in which many journalists who allied themselves with the anti-apartheid movement were prevented from working for mainstream media whose titles reflected the policies of the government of the day, either because of the colour of their skin, or their political or ideological opposition to the system known as apartheid. It is safe therefore to make the following observation. Those who worked for Naspers, even the lowest clerk or secretary must have done so because they supported the company in its aims and objectives. Those who did not, invariably found themselves cast out of the fold and forced to make a living either working and writing for the alternative press or not working at all. In October 1993 a few months prior to the democratic elections M-Net, the South Africa’s sole pay-channel was divided into two companies. The subscriber management, signal distribution and cellular telephone businesses,
together with a holding in FilmNet (a pay-television operator in Europe) were placed into a new company called MultiChoice Limited (later named MIH Holdings Limited) – M-NET, South Africa’s first pay channel had became simply one of many Multichoice channels.
opponent who agrees with you, but not so much so that the illusion of debate falls apart. Is open debate possible in a networked world in which everybody is contracted to everybody else?
Whether because Naspers feared the new black majority government would nationalise assets, or due to simple financial prudence, the strategy proved effective. Henceforth Afrikaner media interests would be borne forth via a complex arrangement whereby European corporates vouchsafed the existence of an asset base in South Africa, whose saving grace was the New World Order.
Following the events of September 11 2001, the very idea of the public sphere has been called into account by documentaries such as Zeitgeist and Fahrenheit 911 both of which question the complicity of media in the creation of a reality that is manufactured to such a degree that the only true reality is artifice. In today’s interconnected world of all pervasive media, we no longer know what is true, let alone the truth, or do we?
A similar, though less complex scheme can be seen during the same period amongst the English press. In order to protect Anglo-American interests, the Argus Group was sold off initially in a piecemeal manner and then lock stock and barrel to the Irish-based Independent Group, which immediately assumed control over the liberal stake in the press under the pretext of British and Irish expansion. It should be remembered that the ANC was predominately a political wing of an armed liberation struggle which had not been shy to use force in achieving its goals.
In Network, a 1976 Hollywood satire, about a fictional television network the Union Broadcasting System (UBS) and its struggle with poor ratings, a crazy journalist threatens to kill himself on air, but instead is lulled by the increase in ratings to stay, so much so, that the Network eventually conspires to actually kill him, if only also to increase the ratings.
The tragicomic character Beale played by actor Peter Finch ends up with his own show, in scenes which ultimately produce some of the best commentary on media Thus under the guise of Irish and British interests and the so- manipulation in our age, and which have been reproduced called Irish Problem, the Anglo-American stake could be endlessly by modern-day media-critics through the unlikely preserved by appearing to make overtures to supporters of medium of Youtube. Beale discovering that the Shin Fein. Likewise, Afrikaners would be assured of conglomerate that owns UBS will be bought out by an even protection from donor states such as France and Germany larger conglomerate, launches into an on-screen tirade which had casually supported the National government in its against the two corporations, encouraging the audience to war against communism. telegram the Whitehouse with the message, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this any more,” in the hopes In 1995, Naspers corporate history records the luxury goods of stopping the merger. company Richemont S.A. and MultiChoice Limited merging their global pay-television operations, which included interest Naspers spate of mergers and acquisitions which followed in FilmNet, MultiChoice’s operations in Africa, and the rebranding of the core print division in 2000 to create Richemont’s interest in Telepiu, into a single venture called Media24 may well have resulted in a number of Beales, it is NetHold B.V., which MultiChoice held through its subsidiary, difficult to comprehend the extent to which press freedom MIH Limited. The birth of Multichoice and its holding and the right-to-know has been sacrificed on the alter of company MIH would take an enormous degree of time and profit. However, once a media corporation becomes effort to explain and deserves its own chapter in the annals sufficiently large, larger than an average-sized country, it is of history. The result though, was that South Africa ended up hard to imagine a world outside of the corporation. with a digital satellite monopoly and a telecommunications sector which was anything but competitive when it came to Essentially what happens, and this is true of so many media delivery of broadband and cable. corporates which have grown from humble beginnings into modern behemoths, the media created by the corporation As far as the new electronic media was concerned, there begins to have a doubling-up effect. So on any given day, a were a number of pretenders to the crown in the early days Media24 employee might start the day reading a Media24 of Internet commerce. Aztec Information, an early startup newspaper, after which he or she turns on a Multichoice was acquired by iAfrica which in turn was acquired by a new channel, flips through another 50 channels all conveyed on entity by the name of MWeb. Within the space of months, an MIH system, turns to a computer to post an email using Naspers had gobbled up its competition, many of whom were MWeb, then orders a book via Kalahari.Net (a Naspers in no position to resist hostile takeovers and bids which subsidiary) published by Kwela, owned by Nasboek, its book undercut value by denying access to valuable infrastructure division. still controlled by the government, and which papered over the terrible fact – the only cable telecoms ostensibly in He or she will probably needs some money to buy the book. private hands were also stuck in various government portfolios which in turn were attached to various deals made No problem, Naspers has thought of everything. Not only does Channel Life now provide a convenient vehicle for the by the ANC with the National Party. purchase of insurance (along with your DSTV subscription) as it turns out, Naspers, because of its constant need to Thus in 1997, MIH Limited created a national Internet service merge, has become a division of Sanlam, a financial group provider and named it MWeb Holdings. In March 1998, MWeb whose Afrikaner origins dovetail the history of Naspers. Holdings was quietly spun off as a listed entity on the JSE but subsequently delisted with Naspers holding 100% of the Networked Corporation economic interest in the company. The game of corporate rugby in which two teams owned and controlled by different parts of the same company played on a field manufactured before a live audience that is itself owned and controlled by THE salient facts after the events of the millennium and Y2K is not the Naspers Group’s the corporation, had begun.
The New Rigged Media In the Manufacture of Consent, media critic Noam Chomsky notes the manner in which media debates can be rigged so that opposition becomes a mere construct of the person doing the arguing. In other words, it helps to have an
expansion into China, Europe, Africa and Brazil but rather the group’s transformation at home, from a media group which produces media, into a hedge fund which produces profit. The much-vaunted dematerialisation of assets and “unlocking of share value” brought about by what was initially thought to be an attempted hostile takeover during 2006, brought new visions of things to come.
Up until this time, the structure of the core business, at least in terms of share ownership, pretty much resembled the original company with the addition of MIH Multichoice. The business was media. Granted, there had been a number of token appointments, such as Jakes Gerwel to the board but the directorship and ownership reflected the domination of an all-white, all-male boardroom, whose predominant concern was with diversifying from print media into electronic media and beyond. In essence Naspers on paper is a holding company for a variety of media subsidiaries, each one on its own right a going concern. This is the picture which Naspers through its corporate media wishes to preserve. Unfortunately, Naspers, the company no longer exists in the way that we can conceive of it as a single entity. Instead, what exists is a carefully interwoven series of cross-ownerships and networked relationships which conspire to give the appearance of an empire.
with Sanlam – the Sanlam stake in Metropolitan and the new entity called MMI is estimated in the billions. The result is somewhat frightening — leading investigative magazine Noseweek published several articles in 2007 critical of Naspers division Educor. In “Degree of Deception” and “Diploma Circus” the magazine questioned “Dodgy practices, plagiarism and cover-ups with the help of political influence”, and whether journalism degrees from Naspers Educor amount to anything more than brainwashing.
Looking east, the Channel Life deal had enormous benefits as Sanlam capital was deployed in a host of acquisitions and technology mergers like the purchase of a stake in Digital Sky that ultimately lead to the acquisition of a slice of Facebook. The networked corporation of the future was not simply content – information is the basis of people’s lives in many respects — but life itself. Social interactions, relationships, even casual friendship, all would be Pay no attention to the man behind the television screen, this aggregated and sold as part of the new emerging commerce is the modern tale of the Wizard of OZ. of the Internet. The value of the deal measured in billions of dollars means Naspers i.e. Channel Life is currently one of the most influential media corporations on the planet, To understand the Channel Life experience and the alongside Rupert Murdoch’s News corporation, and Clear experience of so many who have come to know South Channel Independent. Africa’s media one must first delve into the events which lead up to the Naspers dematerialisation and flirtation with capital markets around the world. Could the grand dictator Hendrik Verwoerd have ever contemplated that his family’s share in Perskor would end up turning into a stake in Facebook? (Naspers own a 50% Two entrepreneurs by the names of Chris Otto and Jannie stake in Perskor alongside Caxton). As I write this the Press Mouton had created a moderately successful global finance Council is holding a series of hearings, the latest on the company called PSG which had staged a takeover of the 26th floor of the Naspers Building on Cape Town’s control structure of Naspers. foreshore. They wish to know how the Press Ombudsman may be improved. The only answer one can imagine, is to The resulting deal was sold as a means of “unlocking share- disband. Stop pretending to be journalists. Admit the truth, capital”. Driving a wedge into the controlling Keerem Street the idea of an independent media is a fraud when share-structure which had remained historical in nature, the independence comes at the price of journalistic integrity, deal would eventually allow Sanlam to become the dominant when the compromise is power, and the truth is — the share-holder in Naspers as the new networked corporation banks and the insurance industry control South Africa’s of the future came into being, its name — Channel Life. media. According to Cape Business News: “The next bold move by PSG was to attack the out-dated control structures at media conglomerate Naspers. Essentially PSG made a rather generous offer for the Naspers A-shares held by Keeromstraat and for the A-shares themselves. The unlisted Naspers A-shares effectively control the media group, although no real economic value was attached to the shares.” This is the part that is not shown on the Naspers organogram. Channel Life is the other side of the pyramid. Channel Life’s history goes back to the late sixties, when it was established as Anchor Life. The company was acquired by the PSG Group in January 1997. In the year 2000, PSG Anchor Life activities were combined under the Channel Life banner. In January 2006, Sanlam became a majority shareholder and in 2009 the entire company, including its stake in Naspers was folded into the Sanlam Group. How was such a financial coup possible? Easy, the history of Sanlam is intertwined with that of Naspers — Willie Hofmeyr, Fred Dormehl, and Pieter Malan, the three founders of Sanlam, were also present at the formation of the Naspers Company in 1915 — it would appear ownership and control of the media and finance sector by one dominant company has been part of the game plan of the Broederbond all along. A student enrolled at a City Varsity journalism course may be forgiven for thinking that a shadowy corporation called Channel Life now sets the media curriculum at the campus, as well as the price of household insurance. Sanlam is a massive player in the South African housing market. The recent Metropolitan and Momentum merger for example, has meant Channel Life cross-ownership effects other media groups, for example Kagiso media, operator of local radio stations such as Heart 104.9 shares territory and holdings
Profile of a Racist Corporation (chronology of apartheid media)
In 1914 J.B.M. Hertzog forms the National Party. The following year Nasionale Pers i.e Naspers is formed by the same man, along with a daily newspaper, De Burger, later known as Die Burger. D F Malan, a former minister in the conservative Dutch Reformed Church is persuaded to become editor and is the main supporter of Hertzog’s National Party. In 1916 Naspers publishes its first magazine Die Huisgenoot. In 1918 the company takes a further step towards expansion when its book publishing operations is founded as Die Burger Boekhandel. D. F. Malan is one of the driving forces behind the organisation. The racially exclusive Afrikaner secret society, Die Afrikaner Broederbond is formed. A Broederbond circular from this time states: ‘The Afrikanerdom shall reach its ultimate destiny of domination in South Africa . . . Brothers, our solution for South Africa’s troubles is not that this or that party shall gain the upper hand, but that the Afrikaner Broederbond shall rule South Africa.” Piet Cillie’ editor of Die Burger from 1954 until 1985 is a staunch supporter of the National Party, under B J Vorster and P W Botha. Cillie’ upholds the apartheid system through many prosegregation editorials until the very end. 1973-1977 The National Government under B J Vorster attempts to purchase the Washington Star. A slush fund is set up to acquire the Citizen and other English language newspapers. The secret operation is exposed by the Rand Daily Mail as the “Information Scandal” 1984, Naspers, as part of its broad propagandist strategy acquires Drum Publications, with titles consisting of City Press, Drum and True Love & Family. As well as a 50% interest in Jane Raphaely & Associates.
In 1985, under P W Botha, Nasionale Pers enters into an arrangment with Perskor, the media company founded by HF Verwoerd and publisher of Die Vaderland and Transvaler to form an all-white, Afrikaner-owned electronic pay-television media business, called MNet, the new entity eventually lists on the JSE Securities Exchange (JSE).
government, the Afrikaans press as a whole stands condemned for promoting the superiority of whites and displaying an indifference to the sufferings of people of colour. Despite a limited number of individuals who rejected the system, and despite examples of resistance to the policy of slavish reporting on government and race related issues, exceptions to the long history of actively promoting the former state and its policies were minor ones.” Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu
In a submission to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), former Rand Daily Mail journalist Raymond Louw is recording as having felt “it was significant that M-Net, soon to be owned by a consortium of newspapers, got its licence in the same month as the Mail was closed” although any connection is denied by the government until this day, The Mail was clearly closed due to pressure from the Botha government and covert operations conducted by the Broederbond and Bureau for State Security (BOSS) as part of the Information Scandal.
Propaganda policy within Naspers after the TRC findings, continues. The general antipathy is expressed in the following statement: “We must neither deny nor accept responsibility for apartheid”.
In 1987 Naspers introduces English family magazine You.
In 1997, shortly after the hearings, MIH Ltd. creates a highly successful internet service provider, M-Web Holdings, which because of its market capitalization and access to the local loop via government contacts within the ANC-NP alliance is able to undercut and drown out the competition.
In 1993, M-Net is divided into two companies — M-Net itself becomes a pure pay-television station while the company’s subscriber management, signal distribution and cellular telephone activities are formed into a new company called MultiChoice Limited (later renamed MIH Holdings Limited). Nasionale Pers itself lists on the JSE on 12 September 1994 and in 1998 the group’s name is officially changed to Naspers. The TRC is set up in terms of the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act , No 34 of 1995, and is based in Cape Town. The mandate of the commission is to bear witness to, record and in some cases grant amnesty to the perpetrators of crimes relating to human rights violations, reparation and rehabilitation. Naspers publications publish cartoons depicting P W Botha as the only man able to stand up to the TRC. P W refuses to participate. The TRC is also depicted as a ‘biegbank” or confessional and the Archibishop’s participation as nothing less than an inquisition. In 1997 the TRC holds a special hearing into the Media, comprising four sessions in Johannesburg, (15 – 17 Sept 1997). The Afrikaans press declines to make a submission to the Commission. Instead, it provides the Commission with a copy of Oor Grense Heen, the official history of Nasionale Pers (Naspers). Volume 4 of the Final TRC report (pg 180) observes: “The history concedes that Die Burger, for instance, promoted Verwoerd’s ideals of bantustans from an early stage and that, after Sharpville, the same newspaper advised that all positive aspects be speeded up. Occasionally,doubts about apartheid do surface but, in the main, the book reflects a total lack of concern for the company’s support of the racist system” In the TRC final report, Archbishop emeritus Desmond Tutu asks a pertinent question with regard to the failure of Naspers to make a full and proper submission: “Is silence from that quarter to be construed as consent, conceding that it was a sycophantic handmaiden of the apartheid government?” However, after the hearing the Commission receives some 150 affidavits from individual Afrikaans-speaking journalists :– “These acknowledged the important role of the Commission and expressed disappointment at the Naspers decision not to appear.” “They believed that the Afrikaans press had been an integral part of the structure that had kept apartheid in place, particularly in the way Afrikaans papers had lent their support to the NP during elections. The submissions maintained that, although the papers may not have been directly involved in violations, they should accept moral responsibility for what happened because they had helped support the system in which gross human rights violations occurred.” “They said that “many Afrikaans journalists were deaf and blind to the political aspirations and sufferings of black fellow South Africans” and did not inform their readers about the injustices of apartheid. When knowledge about gross human rights violations became public, the journalists felt they had too readily accepted the denials and disingenuous explanations of the NP. Those who made submissions also sought forgiveness for their lack of action and committed themselves to ensuring that history would not repeat itself.” According to the TRC final report, “Prof Ari de Beer echoed the general tone of these submissions. He said he had felt compelled to approach the Commission because of the revelations at earlier Commission hearings, particularly those of Vlakplaas. Professor de Beer felt that he and many other “God-fearing” Afrikaners could not accept personal responsibility for specific gross human rights violations. Nevertheless, he did feel that there should be an acceptance of individual and collective responsibility for those violations committed under the ideological veil of apartheid, in the name of the Christian religion and Afrikanerdom. He expressed regret for keeping quiet about apartheid when he knew he should have actively protested against it. He challenged those who claimed that the Afrikaans press had nothing to answer for.” The Afrikaner Press is resoundingly condemned in the TRC final report for its direct support and involvement in the apartheid regime and is labeled as nothing more than an “extension and willing propaganda organ of apartheid.” “By not reporting honestly on the human rights abuses of the NP
A Naspers journalist expresses the view that since the company history under apartheid is public record there is no need to make a submission, and business continues as usual.
Naspers merges its existing private education activities such as City Varsity and Damelin College to form Educor Holdings Limited — “one of the leading private education providers in South Africa”. During the same year, Naspers re-organises and brands its local print media business as its “Media24" division. The original company started by JB Hertzog is reorganised into a holding company with five subsidiaries: MIH Holdings, MWEB, Media24, Nasboek and Educor. 1999 — Former UWC vice-chancellor and director in the president’s office, Jakes Gerwel is appointed to the Media24 board. His close association with the cabinet of Thabo Mbeki, Nelson Mandela and the Mandela Rhodes Foundation, plays a key role in whitewashing the companies egregious history by recasting Naspers’ Media24 division as a “blameless and transforming entity.” After 2000, Naspers rapidly expands its operations around the globe with a series of acquisitions, mergers and complex listings on various stock markets and international exchanges Some of the more notable deals are listed below. In May 2001, Naspers acquires a 46.5% interest in Tencent Holdings Limited, the operator of an instant messaging platform in China called QQ, which subsequently develops into the “leading business of its kind in China”. In a quest to further expand its business in China, the company acquires a 9.9% interest in the Beijing Media Corporation, the publisher of various newspapers such as Beijing Youth Daily and print-related materials, which include advertising. In 2002 the First edition of Daily Sun is published. MIH Holdings and MIHL become two wholly-owned subsidiaries of Naspers through a series of highly secretive listings/delistings and complex share schemes on the JSE, Nasdaq and elsewhere. Naspers creates a secondary listing on Nasdaq. In subsequent company reports and especially the groups annual South African report, Media24 seeks to portray itself as a “modern, forward looking company which has transformed”.Yet the company pursues aggressive litigation against competitors using the numeral 24. Entrepreneur Christopher Riley is warned to stop using Properties24.co.za as his business’ website address. Lengthy litigation ensues. In February 2005, Naspers acquires the South African internet interests of service provider Tiscali. On 31 March of the same year, Naspers prepares for a limited unbundling of its South African operation. In June 2005, the Supreme Court of Appeal hands down its verdict in a sexual harassment case brought by Sonja Grobler against the company in 2003. The court finds that the company has a duty to protect the trainee manager from harassment. Naspers partner, Beijing Media Corporation Ltd is under investigation for alleged corruption,and trading of its shares on Hong Kong stock exchange is suspended. The Beijing municipal government launches a high-level investigation into allegations of bribery and corruption at the company The 2006 Media24 annual report cynically refers to the group’s “chain of integrity”. Community journalist David RobertLewis is fired for writing an article about a local Jazz musician and attending a mixed-race venue on a Friday night. In submissions made before South Africa’s Labour court with regard to a case of discrimination filed at the CCMA the same year, Lewis makes the following observation — “considering what we have been told by the TRC and what we know now, this “chain of integrity” is in all reality a “chain of shame.” Print media, book publishing and private education assets are consolidated in the “Media24 division” apparently “in order to simplify the group’s relatively complex structure” The result is the creation of a parallel entity which allows Black Empowerment Group Welkom Yizani to buy a 15% stake in the Naspers subsidiary “Media24 (a total of 14,6million shares), while Phuthuma Nathi buys a 15% stake in pay-TV
operator “MultiChoice SA” (about 45-million shares)”. These share schemes 2011 Naspers acquires a minority share in Facebook via its are nothing less than dilutions of the company’s local subsidiaries in South holding in Digital Sky. The Group is fined for engaging in Africa and do not affect the holding company or its overseas operations in any “predatory practices” in its community newspapers division. way. The limited unbundling appears to silence some of its critics, despite both divisions remaining firmly under Naspers control. In May 2006, Naspers acquires, for US$ 422 million, a 30% interest in the Brazilian media group Editora Abril, publishers of dozens of titles the most important of which being Revista Veja. A new local entity is set up via a complex share-holding scheme nicknamed “Channel Life” in which Sanlam becomes the effective holding company of Naspers in South Africa. Various ANC oligarchs and party tycoons are appointed to positions in the new holding entity, among them Maria Ramos and Vallie Moosa. They join fellow Broederbonders, who since 1993 reconstitute themselves as part of the elite international Bilderburger group.
The Labour Appeal Court denies Lewis leave to appeal a decision handed down in 2010, no reasons are given. The 2010 decision however cites Lewis' apparent "vendetta" against the corporation for its failure to appear before the TRC, as one of the reasons for denying relief in terms of the Employment Equity Act. 2012 Christi van der Westhuizen an an award-winning political journalist and the author of White Power & the Rise and Fall of the National Party (2007) resigns from Media24 citing newsroom censorship.
Media24 threatens to gag Lewis after the Alternative Media Forum publishes a pamphlet critical of newsroom policy. The Freedom of Expression Institute releases a statement condemning the move. In January 2007, Naspers acquires a 30% interest in popular mobile chat platform Mxit. In February Jane Duncan refers to the gagging attempt as a threat to freedom of speech in an article published by Business Day. Also in 2007, Noseweek publishes articles critical of Naspers division Educor. In “Degree of Deception” and “Diploma Circus”the magazine questions “Dodgy practices, plagiarism and cover-ups with the help of political influence”, and whether journalism degrees from Educor amount to anything more than brainwashing. The Magazine Publishers Association of South Africa (MPASA) strongly condemns a Media24 circulation fraud which is uncovered involving the company’s reporting of circulation figures. Several Media24 employees face disciplinary action and potential criminal charges over the “deliberate manipulation” of circulation figures at five Touchline Media titles and seven Women’s Magazine Division titles which fall under the Media24 division. Advertisers demand a refund. Lewis is jailed for complaining about the failure of local press coverage of the discrimination case, but the “assault by words” case is thrown out of court.
Naspers acquires a 30% interest in a Russian instant messaging service for desktop PCs and mobiles.
D F Malan and H F Verwoerd
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Licensed under the Creative Commons AttributionNoncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 South Africa Licence. In October 2007, Naspers acquires Gadu-Gadu, a listed Polish instant To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/za messaging business with 8 million registered accounts. Under this licence you are free: • to Share — to copy, distribute and transmit the work; In March 2008, Kobus Faasen objects to the use of the term “bushman” by Die Burger to describe people of mixed race. He loses and • to Remix — to adapt the work. his case after South Africa’s legal system upholds the apartheid-era Under the following conditions: system of race classification. • Attribution. You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author, but not in any Naspers acquires Tradus (listed on the London Stock Exchange), way that suggests that the authore endorses you or your which provides an online auction platform and internet portals in use of the work. Eastern Europe. The company also owns Allegro.pl, which is considered the leading online auction site in Poland. • Noncommercial. You may not use this work for commercial purposes. • Share Alike. If you alter, transform, or build upon this In August 2008, Naspers acquires a 25% stake in mobile media work, you may distribute the resulting company BuzzCity through MIH, which is now considered Naspers’ “investment arm”. BuzzCity network is made up of publishers work only under the same or similar licence to this one. worldwide and BuzzCity’s own mobile media properties, which • For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to include the myGamma social networking platform which is aimed at others the licence terms of this work. regions with low fixed-line internet penetration. • Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the author Media24 attempts to sue photographer Geof Kirby for defamation • Nothing in this licence impairs or restricts the auther's after he questions the legality of the company’s reliance on dubious moral rights. freelance contracts in particular its syndication without permission In November 2007 the company acquires a further 2.6% of Mail.ru.
of content under South Africa’s apartheid-era Copyright Law which grants publishers first rights over written material but not over photographic images. A gay protest rally is held outside Media24 headquarters on Cape Town's foreshore after columnist John Qwelane’s homophobic equation of gay sex with bestiality in the Sunday Sun. In September 2009, Naspers acquires a 91% interest in BuscaPé, provider of comparison shopping systems for more than 100 portals and Web sites in Latin America, including Microsoft, Globo and Abril. 2010 The Bilderburger Group, which includes Naspers officials meets in Spain to discuss control of the world financial institutions.
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D F Malan, first editor of Die Burger
Naspers editor, Piet Cillie and white supremacist, PW Botha
Piet Cillie, right, with apartheid founder, D F Malan, middle.
Piet Cillie receiving honorary degree from B J Vorster