The South African Press Association (Sapa), the news agency that has been in operation for the past 76 years, will close its doors at the end of March, its editor, Mark van der Velden, announced on Thursday.
“It is with great regret that we must inform you that Sapa’s board of directors have this morning formally announced the association will cease all operations on 31 March 2015,” Van der Velden said.
“It is a sad but unavoidable decision for the member newspaper groups of the news agency, which have had to confront the fact that the current nonprofit business model cannot be sustained any longer,” he said.
Van der Velden said there are “indications that a number of interested parties are independently considering the establishment of a new, fully commercialised successor news agency operation which would in effect take over where Sapa steps down”.
He said the Sapa board’s instructions are to wind down operations with minimum possible inconvenience to all affected parties.
“This is indeed a very sad day for Sapa after 76 years of operations, but please be assured we will be doing everything required to process the closure as smoothly as possible.”
Nkonki Incorporated has been appointed to assist and guide Sapa through the winding-up process.
“As noted in the earlier announcement, three suitable parties — namely Gallo Images, KMM Review Publishers and Sekunjalo Investments Holdings — had expressed their interest. In the period since September, the parties had each presented their proposals for the establishment of a commercially based content generating and syndication service business and at last week’s meeting provided updates on their original proposals. Nkonki is evaluating these proposals.”
The board, through Nkonki, has now entered a process of calling for bids for the assets of Sapa, the news agency said in a statement.
Sapa chair Minette Ferreira said the agency is a special category nonprofit company and therefore could not be sold off. “After the disposal of the assets, the company will be liquidated…” — (c) 2015 NewsCentral Media
