Statement from Ubuntu owner: New boss addresses salary crisis

The company owns Eastern Cape newspapers Daily Dispatch, The Herald, GO! & Express, The Rep and Talk of the Town. Magele said an agreement had been in place for the previous owners, who remained minority shareholders, to continue managing the group’s operationswhile Ubuntu Media Holdings established its own operational structures ahead of taking full control from August 1.

He said complications with this arrangement resulted in staff not being paid on July 25. Staff across all five titles continued publishing throughout the week, despite not receiving their July salaries. According to Magele, the situation prompted further negotiations, culminating in an agreement on Thursday for Ubuntu Media Holdings to acquire the remaining shares in the business.

Magele said he had authorised the salary payments within an hour of the new agreement being concluded and expected staff to receive their salaries before the weekend. “I would not place blame on anyone, but an hour after we managed to seal the deal on Thursday morning, which saw Ubuntu Media Holdings now owning 100% of these businesses, I signed off on payments. “Since I entered business in 2006, I have never failed to pay staff salaries, and I can assure everyone that this will never happen again,” Magele said.

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He acknowledged that restoring staff confidence would take time and apologised for the hardship the situation had caused. “Moving forward, it would be a heavy load to motivate staff and get them to have confidence in us, but I can assure everyone that this challenge, where salaries go unpaid for days, will never happen again.

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