The impact of Daily Maverick’s March stories in numbers

706

ATM deposits linked to a State Capture slush fund

By analysing 706 cash deposits, Pieter-­Louis Myburgh traced R11.3-million tied to former Transnet and Eskom boss Brian Molefe through a suspected slush fund account. ATMs near Molefe’s homes and workplaces were used and deposits spiked after major career moves. This left a physical and digital trail of State Capture that can no longer be ignored.

1

Major victory for judicial capacity

In a Daily Maverick opinion piece, Mbekezeli Benjamin from advocacy group Judges Matter argued that President Cyril Ramaphosa’s specialised courts were a plaster on a bullet wound. The real fix would be more judges. On 4 March, Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi announced a plan in Parliament to appoint a minimum of 50 new judges countrywide – a 20% increase for the courts.

98,000

Digital fraud incidents put under the microscope

Commercial crime is South Africa’s fastest-growing criminal category, but the banks would prefer you to think it’s always your fault. Rebecca Davis’s four-part “Invisible Heist” series pulled back the curtain on a system in which banks win 79% of fraud disputes while victims face the secondary ordeal of institutional silence. By showcasing the one South African bank with zero fraud and confronting the insider-job question head-on, the series sparked a national conversation about banking accountability.

1

Illegal mining operation reversed

Ed Stoddard and Felix Dlangamandla are becoming a permanent headache for rogue miners. After their exposé on Upward Spiral’s unauthorised tailings work near the Marievale Bird Sanctuary, the company suspended operations and deployed a bulldozer to restore the site.

5

Years of careful Antarctic reporting heard by the US Senate to force oversight

For five years, Tiara Walters has been one of the only journalists reading the fine print about Russian “science” in the Antarctic. In March, this work reached the highest levels of government. The US Senate’s foreign relations committee formally cited her reporting on Rosgeo’s seismic prospecting as evidence of the need for new treaty oversight. Her findings have already been codified into UK foreign policy.

R336-million

In unspent funds found to feed hungry kids

While children go hungry, the state has been sitting on a substantial early childhood development nutrition budget. Tamsin Metelerkamp’s investigation into R336-million in unspent funds sent shockwaves through the sector. The Centre for Early Childhood Development has since turned the reporting, and its accompanying Ubuntoons cartoon, into a lobbying weapon to force the government to stop hoarding and start feeding the kids.

1,000

Megawatts of power guzzling exposed

The AI boom sounds good until the water and electricity bills arrive. Tony Carnie and Lindsey Schutters revealed that a single proposed data centre in Durban could gobble 25% of the city’s electricity. Their “Power Guzzlers” series uncovered plans for a staggering 1,000MW expansion – enough to trigger an entire stage of load shedding. The Global Investigative Journalism Network named it a top global investigation, and MPs in Parliament began using Daily Maverick’s reporting to hold tech giants accountable for their environmental footprint. DM

This story first appeared in our weekly DM168 newspaper, available countrywide for R35.