Sam has been a journalist since 1986. He has worked for the investigative magazine Noseweek, served as political editor of the Sunday Tribune, and joined the Mail & Guardian as investigative journalist in 2002. In 2003, he won the Vodacom Journalist of the Year award for first reporting the criminal investigation of then deputy president Jacob Zuma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Together with amaBhungane co-founder Stefaans Br\u00fcmmer, he has received numerous journalism awards, including for their Oilgate expos\u00e9s that traced the involvement of an ANC-linked company in diverting money from a state contract to the coffers of the ruling party. Sam was instrumental in revealing the links between former police commissioner Jackie Selebi, slain mining magnate Brett Kebble and various figures from South Africa\u2019s underworld. Together with Stefaans and Adriaan Basson, Sam won the Taco Kuiper Award for Investigative Journalism in 2009 for their sustained investigation of the notorious South African arms deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sam co-founded amaBhungane in 2010. Since then, he has been at the forefront of exposing the genesis, progress and ongoing damage wrought by State Capture \u2013 the assault on democratic institutions launched under the leadership of Jacob Zuma. Sam describes himself as a veteran investigative journalist, a proud street lawyer, a frustrated cop and, aspirationally, a scourge of crooked accountants, lawyers, consultants and other \u201cthugs in suits\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He now leads amaBhungane into a new era of global uncertainty, social stress and environmental breakdown \u2013 which makes our core project to promote transparency, accountability and better governance even more critical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n