The power of investigative reporting: a case study
A few weeks ago, journalist Vicky Abraham wrote to us at the Henry Nxumalo Foundation. “The Polokwane Local Municipality and the Department of Basic Education in Limpopo have allegedly ignored the challenges faced by 258 Blind and Deaf pupils who are currently taught in mobile classrooms lacking running water and proper sanitation facilities,” she wrote.
The details of the treatment of these children were truly horrific. Vicky asked for a modest grant for her and Ntokozo Abraham to go to Limpopo and investigate.
The result, delivered within two weeks, was a detailed report, with pictures, in last week’s Sunday Time, Rapport/Netwerk24 and the publication Diary Series of Deaf People. Vicky also scheduled radio interviews about it and by the end of the week her social media had drawn 50 400 views and 4 000 likes and vigorous public debates.
You can read these stories here:
- IN PICS | Sharing water with the dead
- Blind en doof, én hul skool is haglik
- Blind and Deaf Learners: Trauma of sharing water with the dead
The day after publication, the Human Rights Commission visited the school. The chair of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Basic Education condemned the conditions and said they would take it up with the Limpopo authorities.
And five days after asking the Limpopo Department of Education about it, there was a team at the school renovating the classrooms and bathrooms. After eight years of inactivity, it took less than a week for a contractor to be given R450 000 to sort the problem out.
That is the power of investigative journalism! That is the value of hard-hitting, independent journalism by dedicated and passionate reporters.
This is the work we do all the time at the Henry Nxumalo Foundation, where we enable this kind of accountability journalism to take place with grants, training and mentoring.
Please take a look here at the more than 90 projects we have backed and consider making a contribution. Big or small, your contribution can help make this kind of journalism happen – and have a real impact on our society and our democracy.
Calling Investigative Reporters from SADCC
The Henry Nxumalo Foundation has teamed up with Viewfinder, Oxpeckers, INK Investigative Journalism Centre in Botswana and the Centre for Collaborative Investigative Journalism to launch the Southern Africa Accountability Journalism Project, with backing from the European Union and USAID. We will be launching a call for proposals for investigative projects by SADC journalists soon. To make sure you see it, get yourself onto our mailing list by emailing henrynxumalofund@gmail.com.
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