‘4.11am email’: Officials rushed R18.5m in payments to newspaper owner’s company

Eastern Cape Education Department head Sharon Maasdorp, left, and Khumzi Investments director Sakie Sakhumzi Magele. Image:EASTERN CAPE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT/LINKEDIN. GRAPHIC: IOL At 4.11am on a Thursday, 100 top managers in the Eastern Cape education department were ordered at short notice to clear one company’s R18.5m account within four days.

And though the account was treated as a matter of urgency,IOLcan today reveal that more than half the balance was less than 30 days old, and not yet overdue. The company is Khumzi Investments, whose sole director, Sakie Sakhumzi Magele, now ownsDaily Dispatch,The Heraldand the rest of the province’s former Arena Holdings newspapers. IOLhas seen the email, sent on June 26, 2025 to departmental official Amos Tamsanqa Fetsha and 99 other top management members.

“Dear top management members see attached as per instruction (sic) of the HOD, all outstanding payments to Khumzi to be concluded,” it read. Office managers were told to check the attachment and take it up with the chief directorates in their branches. A named official would report back to Maasdorp by Monday, June 30, 2025, four days later.

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The same attachment had already been posted to their internal work WhatsApp group, the sender noted, “for ease of reference”. IOLhas also seen the attachment, a spreadsheet titled “Khumzi Recon”.

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