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Newspapers celebrate 30 years in the community

Date: 21 August 2015 By: Andries van Zyl

“A good newspaper is a community's best friend. Not its sweetest friend, always, though it certainly can be kind and loving in its own special way. And yes, it can be a prickly friend at times, and a bit stubborn as well. And it can be a blunt friend, and unreservedly so. A community's newspaper is that one friend you can count on to tell hard truths, to break sad news, to tell it the way it is.

“And your community newspaper may disappoint you from time to time, as all friends will. But like a best friend, a good newspaper is THERE.”

These were the introductory words of Prof. Bill Reader from the Ohio University on Friday night. He was one of the two guest speakers at a function to celebrate the Zoutpansberger’s 30th birthday and the 25th birthday of the Limpopo Mirror. He was accompanied by another expert in community journalism, Prof. John Hatcher from the University of Minnesota’s Duluth campus.

“Tonight we celebrate three decades of friendship for the communities of this region by theZoutpansberger and the Limpopo Mirror. They have covered the birth and growth of an entire generation, a generation born into turmoil and tension that is now joining their parents in the hard work of building peace, and they are teaching their own children to strive toward justice and happiness. These two newspapers have helped to build their communities, and it seems they will also help their communities to keep moving forward,” said Reader.

The function was attended by more than 200 guests, which included advertisers, suppliers, current and previous staff members and other dignitaries. It was combined with several exhibitions that depicted the history of the newspapers since they were started in 1985 and 1990 respectively.

“It is not often that a privately owned community newspaper gets to survive a quarter of a century or longer. Long before that, it either closes down or, if successful, gets taken over by one of the conglomerates,” explained Anton van Zyl, manager of the Zoutnet group. He attributed the success of the newspapers to an extremely supportive community who took ownership of the newspapers. “A newspaper belongs to the community it functions in and we merely manage it on behalf of the community,” he said.

Van Zyl paid homage to the founders of the newspapers, Johann and Melinda du Plessis, who travelled all the way from the Western Cape to attend the function. He described their venture as visionary, especially the establishment of the Limpopo Mirror at a time when few others were willing to produce a newspaper with a predominantly black readership.

Van Zyl ascribed the success of the papers to a dedicated and talented team. “It is an achievement to produce a really good newspaper with well-written articles, a good lay-out and a variety of adverts, but many people can do that. Where it becomes extremely difficult is when you need to do it week after week, year after year. This is where the Zoutpansbergerand Limpopo Mirror stand out. For more than a quarter of a century, we have been able to produce quality products week after week, and very few others can say that. For this I thank an excellent team, not only the ones working at the newspapers now, but also the ones in whose footsteps they followed.”

 
 
 

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Andries van Zyl

Andries joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in April 1993 as a darkroom assistant. Within a couple of months he moved over to the production side of the newspaper and eventually doubled as a reporter. In 1995 he left the newspaper group and travelled overseas for a couple of months. In 1996, Andries rejoined the Zoutpansberger as a reporter. In August 2002, he was appointed as News Editor of the Zoutpansberger, a position he holds until today.

 
 

More photos... 

The function at the Fransie Vermaak Hall in Louis Trichardt was attended by more than 200 guests, which included advertisers, suppliers, current and previous staff members and other dignitaries.

Representatives of the national procurement agency for independent
newspapers, Capro Pty Ltd, were present during the celebrations and
handed a special plaque to the newspapers in recognition of their support
over more than a quarter of a century. In the photo are, from left to
right, Will Davis, general manager of Capro, Alice McDonald, secretary
of Capro and Anton van Zyl, manager of Zoutnet

Founder of the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror Johann du Plessis (right), pictured with good friend Johan Gilfillan. Johann and his wife Melinda travelled all the way from the Western Cape to attend the function.

 Prof Bill Reader from the Ohio University was one of the guest speakers during the newspapers' birthday cerlebrations Friday evening at the Fransie Vermaak Hall. “And your community newspaper may disappoint you from time to time, as all friends will. But like a best friend, a good newspaper is THERE,' was one of the remarks made by Reader during his speech.

Prof Reader was accompanied by another expert in community journalism, Prof John Hatcher from the University of Minnesota’s Duluth campus. He was the second speaker of the evening and shared some of his insights and knowledge with the audience.

Guest were treated to a number of exhibitions as part of the birthday celebrations on Friday. The exhibitions depicted the history of the newspapers since they were started in 1985 and 1990 respectively.

Birthday Function

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