Bhekisisa

MiaMalan

Mia Malan is the founder and editor-in-chief of Bhekisisa. She has worked in newsrooms in Johannesburg, Nairobi and Washington, DC, winning more than 30 awards for her radio, print and television work. A former Knight International Journalism Fellow and a Reuters Institute Journalism Fellow, Mia speaks internationally about health issues in Africa and media sustainability in the Global South. Mia has published widely in books and academic journals, including the Brown Journal of World Affairs and the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs. She was a TEDx speaker on how Covid changed news reporting and regularly moderates panels for high-level events.

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Awards

• 2022 Standard Bank Sikuvile Journalism Awards: Editorial/Column Journalist of the Year
• 2021 Charlotte Mannya-Maxeke Institute Bring Her Up Women of Firsts Awards: Excellence in Public Health Award
• 2020 Vodacom Journalism Awards: Opinion Writer Journalist of the Year (Northern Region)
• 2019 Standard Bank Sikuvile Journalism Awards: Features Journalist of the Year
• 2016 CNN Multichoice African Journalism Awards: Features Journalist of the Year
• 2016 Vodacom Journalism Awards: Northern Region Features Journalist of the Year
• 2016 Diageo Responsible Drinking Media Awards: Newspaper Journalist of the Year
• 2016 Standard Bank Sikuvile Journalism Awards: Features Journalist of the Year
• 2015 Discovery Health Journalism Awards: Discovery Health Journalist of the Year
• 2015 Discovery Health Journalism Awards: Features Health Journalist of the Year
• 2015 Discovery Health Journalism Awards: Healthy Lifestyle Features Journalist of the Year
• 2015 Brandhouse Responsible Drinking Media Awards: Journalist of the Year
• 2015 Brandhouse Responsible Drinking Media Awards: Newspaper Journalist of the Year
• 2015 Standard Bank Sikuvile Journalism Awards: Features Journalist of the Year
• 2015 Standard Bank Sikuvile Journalism Awards: Newspaper Journalist of the Year
• 2014 Standard Bank Sikuvile Journalism Awards: Features Journalist of the Year
• 2014 National Press Club Journalism Awards: Features Journalist of the Year
• 2014 Discovery Health Journalism Awards: Features Health Journalist of the Year
• 2013 Brandhouse Responsible Drinking Media Awards: Newspaper Journalist of the Year
• 2013 National Press Club Journalism Awards: Radio Features Journalist of the Year
• 2013 National Press Club Journalism Awards: Print Features Journalist of the Year
• 2013 Discovery Health Journalism Awards: Features Health Journalist of the Year
• 2013 Discovery Health Journalism Awards: Discovery Health Journalist of the Year
• 2012 Standard Bank Sikuvile Journalism Awards: Comment and Analysis Journalist of the Year
• 2008 Baltimore Women’s Film Festival: Best Short Film (My Dead Husband’s Land)
• 2002 US-SA Television Health Journalist of the Year
• 2001 CNN African Journalist of the Year Awards: Radio Journalist of the Year
• 2000 African Journalist Foundation Awards: Radio Journalist of the Year Runner-Up
• 1998 Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation Excellence in Health Journalism Awards: Overall Winner

PhathiswaMagopeni

Phathiswa Magopeni is Bhekisisa’s chief operations officer. She has 23 years’ experience in the news media sector and has held senior editorial roles such as the editor-in-chief and group executive for SABC News and Current Affairs. Magopeni was also the head of terrestrial news services and business and economics editor at eNCA and etv. She began her career as a lecturer at the University of the Western Cape, and later joined the University of Cape Town’s Southern African languages and literatures department. Magopeni holds bachelor of arts, BA hons and MPhil ed. degrees from the University of the Western Cape. She also has an Integrated Marketing Communications higher diploma from the AAA School of Advertising and an MBA from the Gordon Institute of Business Science at the University of Pretoria. Magopeni is a member of the SABC’s board of directors. She’s a Menell/Duke University Media fellow and Bloomberg Media Initiative Africa Fellow, a member of the World Editors Forum and a council member of the South African National Editors’ Forum.

RosalineDaniel

Rosaline Daniel is Bhekisisa’s programme manager. She holds Master’s degrees from the Universities of Cape Town and Westminster in the United Kingdom in international relations and technical and specialised translation. Daniel monitors the fulfillment of donor requirements, and develops information systems for financial and progress reporting to ensure that Bhekisisa remains compliant. She also manages online advertising and ensures all administrative work is carried out for the assigned programmes in line with procedures. Daniel works with Bhekisisa’s engagement officer and other team members to organise and conceptualise training, critical thinking forums and webinars.

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SoleyCrooks Chissano

Soley Crooks Chissano is Bhekisisa’s programme associate. They hold a BA degree in linguistics, Portuguese and psychology (2021) and an honours degree in linguistics (2023) from the University of the Witwatersrand. Crooks Chissano has consulted with philanthropy agencies on climate change and renewable energy, providing support to programme managers on energy transition initiatives through research, information briefs, grantee identification and grant assessments. Soley is passionate about uplifting diverse voices and creating platforms for people to talk in meaningful ways.

LindaPretorius

Linda Pretorius is Bhekisisa’s content editor. While studying towards a BSc in human physiology, she fell in love with science; during postgraduate studies she fell in love with writing about science. She ended up graduating with a PhD in biosystems from the University of Pretoria and has been working as a science writer, editor and proofreader in the book industry and for academic journals over the past 15 years. At Bhekisisa she helps authors to shape and develop their stories to pack a punch. “Helping an author create an effective story is like creating a synapse,” she says. “It’s that almost intangible space where information flows seamlessly from the author to the reader, without any meaning getting lost.”

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Joanvan Dyk

Joan van Dyk is Bhekisisa's news editor. She graduated with an honours degree in journalism from Stellenbosch University in 2017. She was the top performing student in the class of 2016. Joining Bhekisisa marks Van Dyk’s debut as a journalist, but she was instantly captivated by the all-encompassing nature of health reporting in Africa. She grew up travelling the continent and aspires to reveal issues that are relevant to the well-being of its populations. “Health stories expose the human fragility that unifies us all. I am looking forward to writing stories that unravel the health policies and politics that impact on the lives of everyday people across the continent.”

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Awards

• 2019 Standard Bank Sikuvile Journalism Awards: Features Journalist of the Year
• 2018 Discovery Health Journalism Awards: Young Upcoming Health Journalist Finalist
• 2018 Discovery Health Journalism Awards: Best Health News Reporting Finalist
• 2016 Media24 Ton Vosloo Award for Leadership and Innovative Thinking

ZanoKunene

Zano Kunene is a health reporter at Bhekisisa. He graduated with an honours degree in journalism from the University of the Witwatersrand in 2021. While writing for his university’s student newspaper, Wits Vuvuzela, Kunene often covered campus life issues, from the progress of renovations on dilapidated residence buildings to topics such as the university’s provision of internet data during COVID lockdowns. “I’m intrigued by stories that provide insight but leave the reader with the desire to engage in active citizenry in providing real-life solutions to everyday problems,” Kunene says.

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NicoleLudolph

Nicole Ludolph obtained her journalism diploma from Cape Peninsula University of Technology in 2020. Before joining the Bhekisisa team, she covered all things farming at the agricultural publication, Food For Mzansi. Ludolph believes that everyone has a story to tell. "Healthcare, like most things in South Africa, is built on an incredibly unequal system”, she says. “This is why telling the health stories of those who are usually not heard from, is important."

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ChristinaPitt

Christina Pitt is a health reporter at Bhekisisa. After completing an LLB degree at Stellenbosch University in 2016 she was awarded a Media24 scholarship to pursue an honours degree in journalism. Pitt then worked as a digital news journalist, lifestyle writer and producer of a gender-based violence documentary series for the DSTV television channel, MNet. “How a country treats its most vulnerable is a useful way to measure the health of a democracy,” she says. “As journalists it is our job to shine a light on inequality in a way that affects positive change.”

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MohaleMoloi

Mohale Moloi is a multimedia health journalist at Bhekisisa. He graduated with an honours degree in investigative journalism from Wits University in 2020. Before joining Bhekisisa, Moloi worked as a radio producer at Cape Talk at Primedia Broadcasting where he created current affairs content for breakfast and drive time shows. “This has taught me the importance of raising the profile of underrepresented voices in the news media,” he says. “Inequality is reflected in who gets to have their story told and whose reality often goes ignored. Frank conversations with radio listeners have taught me that fixing this representation imbalance should be in the job description of every journalist.” In 2019 Moloi was awarded a journalism fellowship by the Open Society Foundation for South Africa.

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DylanBush

Dylan Bush studied journalism, specialising in television and photography, at Rhodes University. In 2008 they won the SABC Young Journalist of the Year award for a mini-documentary on the food crisis in South Africa. Bush spent four-and-a-half years as a multimedia reporter at the Mail & Guardian from 2010 to 2014. During this time, they exhibited their photography in South Africa and Europe and won two Standard Bank Sikuvile awards for their reporting on corruption and police brutality. In 2012 Bush, together with Craig McKune and Verashni Pillay, was the first ever recipient of the CNN African Digital Journalist of the Year award.

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Awards

• 2017 Discovery Health Journalism Awards: Video Journalist of the Year
• 2015 Standard Bank Sikuvile Journalism Awards: Multimedia Journalist of the Year Finalist
• 2014 Standard Bank Sikuvile Journalism Awards: Multimedia Journalist of the Year
• 2013 German Development Media Awards: African Category Finalist
• 2012 Standard Bank Sikuvile Journalism Awards: Multimedia Journalist of the Year
• 2012 CNN African Journalism Awards: Digital Journalist of the Year
• 2008 SABC Student Journalism Awards: Television Journalist if the Year
More about Dylan Bush

Yolanda Mdzeke

Yolanda Mdzeke is a multimedia reporter at Bhekisisa. She graduated with an honours degree in journalism, specialising in broadcast journalism and documentary filmmaking, from Rhodes University in 2020. At Rhodes, she was part of a group of young student journalists who reported on the 2016 #RUReferenceList protests about sexual violence on the campus, which led to the documentary DISRUPT. Her final year documentary project, ”I am Thandiwe” the story of a Black adopted child raised in a white family, was screened on DSTV as part of the 2020 National Arts Festival's virtual film festival. Mdzeke abides by one firm philosophy: “I believe in the value of storytelling in order to educate and transform our society, to explore underrepresented narratives and interrogate the status quo”.

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