Exactly ten years ago, on 19 March 2010, amaBhungane published its first set of expos\u00e9s.<\/p>\n
We called it \u201cZuma Inc\u201d, an attempt to shine a light on the expanding network of business interests of then-president Jacob Zuma and his family.<\/p>\n
We were just getting started, but it is instructive to look back at those stories<\/a>, which were published in the Mail & Guardian<\/em>, the media parent that helped birth us.<\/p>\n Zuma Inc introduced South Africa to \u201cthe Guptas\u201d, describing them as an example of \u201cthe emergence of political entrepreneurs who appear to have used Zuma’s children to secure their transition from the Mbeki era to the Zuma camp\u201d.<\/p>\n Little did we know in 2010 how they would come to dominate the political and reporting landscape.<\/p>\n But that first edition highlighted other enduring themes.<\/p>\n There was our story<\/a> on the \u201csugar mommy\u201d who (regally supported by the state) bankrolled Zuma\u2019s home in Johannesburg \u2013 a precursor to the abuse of state resources we later exposed with the scandal over Nkandla.<\/p>\n Our story<\/a> on Zuma\u2019s pick for a national director of public prosecutions, Menzi Simelane, and his blocking of the last attempts to secure some criminal consequences for one of the kingpins of the Arms Deal, Fana Hlongwane, foreshadowed the Zuma administration\u2019s full-scale assault on the independence and functioning of the National Prosecuting Authority.<\/p>\n How ironic that Hlongwane went on to be a fixer for the Guptas, and that Simelane, who was removed from his job, went on to be an advisor for Lindiwe Sisulu, the political princess now making a play as the pretender to Zuma\u2019s tarnished throne.<\/p>\n Finally there was Adriaan Basson\u2019s story on Bosasa<\/a> \u2013 testimony to his dogged pursuit of one of the companies at the centre of what would become known as \u201cstate capture\u201d.<\/p>\n Adriaan went on to become editor of News24, but our roads were to converge again in media collaborations such as the #GuptaLeaks saga \u2013 one of the strengths of our model, which values getting the story right over getting it first.<\/p>\n We introduced the name \u201camaBhungane\u201d only two weeks after those first stories. Now it is almost a household name, cited all the way from shebeens to the Constitutional Court.<\/p>\n When we split from the M&G<\/em> in 2016 \u2013 losing their financial contribution \u2013 we were nervous about how we would survive.<\/p>\n Staff reminded us this week how we told them not to make any large financial commitments until we found our feet.<\/p>\n But our reach grew exponentially \u2013 and we led the way in filling the gap in our budget by pioneering a local version of supporter funding<\/a>.<\/p>\n We now run a non-profit company with annual turnover of some R10-million, with a team thrice its original size.<\/p>\n For a third year running, 25% or more of our operating expenditure has comes from individual contributions. And amaBhungane has set a new standard for transparency and accountability with our rigorous funding policy<\/a>. In the last 4 years, we’ve received more than 13 600 small donations from individual donors. The median value of these contributions is R150.<\/p>\n Like this story? Be an amaB Supporter<\/a> <\/span>to help us do more. Sign up for our newsletter<\/a><\/span> to get more.<\/em><\/p>\n We have spent the decade at the frontline of the fight for accountability.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t just the Guptas and Zuma.<\/p>\n It was the shocking reach of organised crime (think disgraced police commissioner Jackie Selebi and Czech gangster Radovan Krejcir); the hunt for the full extent of the excess that was Nkandla; the dirty oil deals that put elite interests at the expense of the state; the manipulation of social grant payments to fleece the poor; and the capture of massive state owned companies to line the pockets of greedy tenderpreneurs and consultants.<\/p>\n