Diary Series of Deaf People’s journalist, Vicky Abraham, wins the 2024 Nat Nakasa Community Media Award. Picture Supplied by SANEF
The investigative journalist and Editor-In-Chief of the Diary Series of Deaf People, Vicky Abraham scooped the 2024 Nat Nakasa Community Media Award over the weekend.
The 26 Nat Nakasa Community Awards for Courageous Journalism held at the Radisson Blu, Umhlanga in Durban on 14 September 2024. It honours journalists who amplify local voices and foster community engagement.
The Nat Nakasa Award is awarded annually by Print Media SA, the South African National Editors' Forum (SANEF) and the Nieman Society in recognition of any media practitioner – journalist, editor, manager or owner – who has: Shown integrity and reported fearlessly. Displayed a commitment to serve the people of South Africa.
Abraham was awarded this award for an article that highlighted allegations of racism, discrimination, and unfair labour practices that Deaf employed electrical learnership students were apparently subjected to by their white superiors at PCD College in Pretoria.
It is understood that some of the students are Deaf-partially-blind. Although, they use South African Sign Language to communicate, others can lip-read.
The students had alleged that they do not have lockers to keep their bags and food. Therefore, their food gets infested with ants as they place them on the ground, they explained in a video that they posted on TikTok. This prompted Abraham to investigate these allegations and conduct interviews with the students.
The students alleged, “We place our food on the ground because we do not have lockers, therefore they get filled with lots of ants. We remove the ants and continue eating the same food. That is our daily life, we sit with ants on the grass. It is like the ants are our friends.”
According to the judges, of the Nat Nakasa Awards, the quality of entries in this category was exceptional, but Abraham stood out for her compelling series on Deaf and Deaf-partially-blind students and those with different disabilities who were subjected to inhumane conditions, including eating food crawling with ants. These stories, which exposed racism, exploitation, and unfair labour practices faced by Deaf and Deaf-partially- blind students at PCD College in Pretoria, were described as “deeply impactful” and “courageous.”
The work exemplified the commitment of community journalists, who often work with limited resources but remain determined to tell the most important stories of their communities.”
Sanef congratulated all the winners of the 2024 Nat Nakasa Awards for their exceptional contributions to the profession and their unwavering commitment to truth and justice.
These awards celebrate journalists who have demonstrated extraordinary bravery in their work, often in the face of great personal and professional risk.
Sanef said for the first time in the history of the awards, the main Nat Nakasa Award for courageous journalism has been jointly awarded to three outstanding journalists from News24, Kyle Cowan, Jeff Wicks and Theo Jeptha.
These three journalists epitomise the spirit of courageous journalism, risking their safety to shine a light on critical issues and expose injustices, said Crystal Orderson Judge.
Nwabisa Makunga, SANEF chairperson, challenged the media fraternity to be not “deaf to the call of accountability; without fear or favour, nor be lethargic in our response to the abuse of power and injustice.”
Makunga said.
She said this moment demanded high standards of integrity from editors, a standard to which they must hold themselves as individual media practitioners, media houses, and of SANEF as an organisation.
Thami Nakasa, the nephew of Nat Nakasa, said if the courage of journalists in Nat Nakasa’s era was done without fear or favour, the same excellence is expected in every journalist today.
Thami Nakasa said:
Nwabisa Mpondo, market development specialist at Sanlam Mass Retail said Nat Nakasa’s story is one of courage, integrity, and an unwavering commitment to truth. In the oppressive climate of 1960s apartheid South Africa, where the press was restricted and Black voices were systematically silenced, Nakasa dared to speak out.
Nakasa’s legacy is woven into the fabric of South African journalism, not because he lived a long life, but because he lived a courageous one, and it serves as a testament to the transformative power of journalism.
“Sanlam, as a cornerstone business in African society, has unwavering faith in the importance of truth. In a world filled with uncertainties and ever-changing economic and social landscapes, truth remains the bedrock upon which trust is established,” Mpondo said.
She said the journalists, “we honour today are not just chroniclers of events; you are custodians of our democracy. They ensure that the South African public remains informed, that the powerful remain accountable, and that our society remains just.”
The Stephen Wrottesley Award 2024, given annually to a SANEF member for exceptional service to the organisation, has been awarded to Slindile Khanyile, head of Digital Publications and co-director of Likhanyile Tutoring and Media, as well as the editor of online publications Umbele and Umkhanyisi in Durban.