Mazwi Xaba is the Daily Sun and Sunday Sun’s new editor-in-chief, general manager of both newspapers, Minette Ferreira, has announced. The enormously successful editor of Independent Newspapers’ Isoleswe leaves the KwaZulu-Natal newspaper to join the country’s biggest tabloid.
“The editor of the Daily Sun and Sunday Sun is a person with the biggest job in the South African newspaper industry. You do not find the right person for this job under every stone…but stop the clock. We’ve got him,” Ferreira said in a statement.
As for Xaba, he is looking forward to “the challenge of a lifetime” that starts on 1 June.
His appointment comes after a difficult time for the Daily Sun. Founder and publisher Deon du Plessis died last year. Shortly after his death, in October last year, long time editor, Themba Khumalo, resigned. He left large shoes to be filled, Ferreira said.
At the time, Ferreira told TheMediaOnline “The editor will have to be “a very special person. The Daily Sun really has unique style and feel and we want to continue that. We don’t want to change it. It has a heartbeat and a soul. Many of the staff have been here for over five years, they’ve grown up under the tutelage of Deon and Themba. It’s what makes it work.”
The papers have also been hit by declining print circulations, and as Ferreira said, “it’s about coming back. “And the leadership of the new editor will be key to this. Our readers might have stopped reading it on a daily basis, but they’re still buying several copies a week, and perhaps sharing on the days they don’t buy it.”
Clearly, they’ve now found the right person after a lengthy search.
Xaba began his career as a cadet at Independent Newspapers in 1992 working his way up to becoming editor-in-chief of Isolezwe in 2011. Xaba has run the daily newspaper with huge success, and has been instrumental in launching its Sunday, and then Saturday editions. In 2002, he joined Isolezwe in 2002 and fulfilled a series of roles on the paper, including chief sub editor and deputy editor.
