Johannesburg – The Editor-in-Chief of the Sunday Times, Makhudu Sefara, has been suspended over allegations of the diversion of funds from a Lottery-financed project.
Sefara was named by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) as one of the individuals implicated in the misappropriation of lottery funds meant for media projects.
Although Sefara denies any wrongdoing, saying he was running a company called “Unscripted Communication” at the time and was contracted to organise the event at Birchwood Hotel, the owners of the Sunday Times, Arena Holdings, placed him on special leave on Tuesday, 28 April 2026.
Matters came to a head after a SIU probe into the misuse of lottery funds found that Sefara’s company, Unscripted Communication, received four payments from Todi Media Foundation totalling R550 000 between 21 November and 12 December 2018 for a lottery-funded “media” project.
Todi Media Foundation received a R1.5-million grant from the lottery to cover accommodation, transport, and other costs for journalists’ training projects.
The SIU probe found that the funds were not used for their intended purpose.
Ground Up reports that R550 000 was paid to Sefara’s company, and a further R900 000 was paid to Black Danagaree, owned by Daniel Malatji, the father of former Sunday World acting editor Ngwako Malatji.
Sefara, who is also the chairperson of the South African National Editors’ Forum (SANEF), has stepped aside from that role after attending an emergency meeting regarding the SIU accusations.
In a statement made available to The Bulrushes, SANEF said its chairperson, Sefara, “has stepped aside pending an investigation into allegations of misappropriation of lottery funds”.
SANEF stated that during an urgent meeting, Sefara denied the allegations “but offered to temporarily step down while responding to them”.
SANEF announced that deputy chairperson Tshamano Makhadi will serve as acting chairperson.
The organisation has also appointed an independent legal team to assess the evidence.
