It was/is an incredible journey/adventure: from a plucky start-up that probably should have known better than to promise revolution, to the quality content machine that it is today; from an impecunious bunch that could barely scrounge a few rand for coffee to an impecunious bunch that can scrounge a few rand for coffee but not much more; from a convincingly down-and-out online daily that could not even afford offices other than the virtual WhatsApp space, to a not-so-down-and-out market leader that still needs the kindness of strangers and followers to actually afford an office.

Looking into some of the data that underpins Daily Maverick is nothing short of astonishing:

• From around 30,000 unique visitors in November 2009, our first full month analytics, we reached two million in September 2019.
• Our First Thing and Business Maverick newsletters go every morning to more than 115,000 subscribers, followed by the Afternoon Thing and many more – all in all, we send out more than 10 million newsletters every month.
• Over 10 years, we published more than 47,000 features. Mind you, those were not shorties – our coverage is best described as magazine-quality daily.
• From a single website with 4-6 new stories a day, these days we publish 25-35 original features a day, within a whole constellation of mini-websites: Scorpio, Zapiro, Business Maverick, Maverick Life, Maverick Citizen, Our Burning Planet.
• Our first feature film, Influence, produced by Beatnik, our film division, is almost completed.

How did we get here? Here’s a short list of the main reasons:

• DM-ers. Our journalists and non-editorial people are simply the best in South Africa. Period.
• Luck definitely played a big role – we somehow managed to be in the right place at the right time on quite a few occasions that turned out to be South Africa’s fork-in-the-road moments: Marikana, the #GuptaLeaks, SARS Rogue Unit fake scandal, State Capture, Radical Economic Transformation, VBS scandal, Prasa, Fightback, and too many more to mention here.
• The kindness of strangers was deeply humbling from day one. So many people contributed to the building of this beautiful online daily – by donating money, effort and a stream of incredible columns and op-eds that so enriched our offering. You know who you are and you know how deeply grateful we are. Daily Maverick’s success is your success too. South Africa is a better country thanks to you.
• Stubbornness was also a crucial, um, quality, of our character – when many a stronger person would have tapped out in surrender, we just kept going. Somehow our vision would renew itself every night and rejoin our sometimes battered souls in the morning – every morning.

South African media today is not a pretty, or happy place. Many publications are either closed or significantly weakened. The numbers are horrifying: around 5,000 journalists have lost their jobs in the 10 years since Daily Maverick was launched – half the workforce. Many more jobs will almost certainly be lost in the coming years.

It is a point of never-ending wonder to us that a country in such dire need of truth can also be so uncaring about ensuring that reporting that truth is made possible. Our state broadcaster is on its knees. A number of the media giants of yesteryear are on their knees, some so removed from daily journalism they don’t matter any more. Others are not really in media space any more, preferring to invest massive amounts of money in classifieds and online food delivery while starving their own journalism efforts of cash and investments.

It is entirely possible that soon the lights may be switched off in many media rooms nationwide. Soon after, the lights of democracy will have been switched off too.

Today (and in the foreseeable future) journalists are routinely personally targeted. Their jobs are under continuous attack, their salaries, when they arrive, are meagre at best. Most of them will never attain a middle-class lifestyle. And yet, day after day, they get up and give their best to protect South Africa’s fragile democracy.

At Daily Maverick, we’re thankfully still growing. Our commitment to our team and our motto, Defend Truth, stems from our genuine appreciation for the public service nature of our journalism. What probably saved us and powered our sails through all these years was that simple, sometimes fanatical, dedication to our publication. No other – especially financial – considerations stand between us and our stories. Just a pure desire to tell the truth to our readers.

To document our first decade, we wrote a book titled We Have a Game Changer, which is about to head to print and will hit the shelves by the end of November. You could do worse than pre-order it here. And if you are not sure, just watch this video and then subscribe.

Should you want to read the book but can’t afford it, stress not – it will be available online.

As we enter the second decade of Daily Maverick, expect us to build upon our current offering and keep surprising you. But we can’t do it alone. If you have not done it already, this 10th birthday of Daily Maverick could be a great opportunity for you to sign up for the newsletter and/or become a Maverick Insider. Here’s the video full of happy/committed people to entice you:

So, here we are. Happy birthday to all of the people who made this happen. We are eternally grateful.

And to all our readers, the future is out there, Together, we will discover and define it.  DM