It’s impossible to provide an exhaustive list of the investigations carried out this year, but here are a few high-impact stories from the year that was.

• Pieter-Louis Myburgh revealed how a R4-billion Sanral bridge contract was awarded to ‘defunct business’ with a R418-million debt pile.
• Rebecca Davis exposed the proposed R1-billion deal for SA Tourism to sponsor Tottenham Hotspur; the deal was abandoned after the details emerged.
• Pieter-Louis Myburgh exposed a Zweli Mkhize-era Department of Health’s ‘suspicious’ R486-million lease deal.
• Kevin Bloom introduced us to the four crime cartels that have brought Eskom and South Africa to their knees; the SIU and Hawks are now using the intelligence files to bring criminals to book.
• Rebecca Davis uncovered the governance crisis at the University of Cape Town; Mamokgethi Phakeng is no longer the vice-chancellor of UCT.
• Jessica Bezuidenhout’s investigation showed how the ANC was trying to sidestep legal proceedings related to a R50-million donation from Regiments Capital.
• Tony Carnie’s digging resulted in the accreditation of Karpowership gas explosion risk consultants being suspended.
• Pauli van Wyk outlined how Safa chief Danny Jordaan was being investigated by the Hawks.
• Pieter-Louis Myburgh investigation revealed that Royal Security, founded by State Capture ‘kingpin’ Roy Moodley, bagged a R282-million contract in DA-led Western Cape.
• Diana Neille exposed how mayor-turned-electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa spent tens of millions of rands in taxpayers’ money on a musical spectacular that failed spectacularly.
• Rebecca Davis on Eskom’s Limpopo housing shame – how management squandered R250-million on property now left derelict. Although there is little indication that the situation has changed, as a result of this story the issue was raised in Parliament as a matter of concern by opposition MPs.
• Rebecca Davis on the SANDF plan to spend R55,000 per soldier on new uniforms; We understand that this reporting has assisted in ensuring that the project is on hold for the time being.
• Dudu Myeni – The Delinquent Director. In the grand scheme of South African corruption an amount of R201,000 might be viewed by some as peanuts. Not so for Daily Maverick as we believe every penny stolen or due to state coffers warrants accountability and action. Besides, R201,000 is enough for the government to fund 33 child grants – for a full year. And it is for these reasons that we pushed the Department of Justice for more than four years to ensure that officials there will not “forget” to get money back from the former SAA chairperson. Now – after more than four years of inaction and repeated questioning – someone finally instructed the sheriff of the court to sell Myeni’s attached goods on site.
• Kevin Bloom on former deputy president DD Mabuza vs conservationist Fred Daniel. In December 2022, we published a report, “‘Land scam kingpin’ – Deputy President David Mabuza named as top suspect in organised crime complaint”. The piece was the culmination of almost two years of investigative reporting. In the criminal complaint lodged by the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse on 5 December 2022, Daily Maverick’s reporting on the missing case dockets was acknowledged as pivotal. The latest instalment in this ongoing saga, the discharge of the trial judge by Cyril Ramaphosa, has raised key questions about how far the Stalingrad strategy deployed by Mabuza and his legal team will go to stop this matter.

Daily Maverick journalists have been recognised for their work throughout the year, bagging some prestigious awards.

Vodacom Journalist of the Year awards

Tamsin Metelerkamp – National winner of the Vodacom Young Journalist award (also the Western Cape Young Journalist of the Year)

Victoria O’Regan – Western Cape regional winner for “Docking in the dark — Sanctioned Russian ship drops anchor at Simon’s Town Naval Base”

Greg Ardé and Sam Sole – Regional winner, KZN-Investigative – for Corruption County: The Durban whistle-blower, the assassination and the dodgy R30m ‘dept’’’

Greg Ardé – Regional winner, KZN-Financial and Economics – for “Murderous construction mafias have brought many companies to their knees”.

Tembile Sgqolana – Regional winner EC – for “Komani is reeling from power outages that last for weeks”.

Rebecca Davis received a judges’ commendation for her coverage of the dodgy SA Tourism and Tottenham Hotspur deal

Caryn Dolley received a judges’ commendation for her coverage of organised crime linked to criminals in Bulgaria and Israel.

Sikuvile Standard Bank Journalism Awards

Michelle Banda was named the Juby Mayet Rising Star of the Year 

Sune Payne received a commendation for “Heartache of forced removals lingers as claimants prepare to make ‘history’ and move back to District Six”

Hamilton Wende won the columns/editorial category for “The first casualty of the war is truth – and humanity is close behind” and “Adriaan Vlok – the old man and the dark shadow of the past”

Madagascar Film Festival

Emilie Gambade and Malibongwe Tyilo took the Zébu d’Or (the top award) for Best Documentary in the pan-African competition at Rencontres du Film Court (Madagascourt) Madagascar for Section 16.