Kathorus MAIL to close after 23 years of community reporting

The executive director of the Dakota News Media Association in the US, Dave Bordewyk, recently described the abrupt closure of four newspapers in the State of Dakota as a gut punch to the communities affected by the demise of these publications.

He explained that what happened to the communities of South Dakota was a sobering reminder of the struggles faced by the news media industry, adding that the battle has not only affected newspapers in the United States, but it has also been a struggle faced by newspapers throughout the world.

Borderwyk explained that the “decline of community newspapers reflects a dramatic shift in the traditional business model for newspapers and changing readership trends as people now increasingly rely on online sources for information”.

He goes on to add: “The history of newspapers has always relied heavily on advertising to pay for production costs, enabling publishers to keep subscription rates relatively low.

This business model, he says, has managed to sustain newspapers for decades, until now.

Bordewyk further points out that because of this, comparing the newspapers of the 1990s with the newspapers of today is sobering.

Closer to home, this can be witnessed by the closure of several local newspaper titles at the end of 2023. This was followed by the dramatic decline of display adverts in the remaining South African papers following the advent of Covid-19 three years ago.

Since then, the decline in advertising has hurt other local publications, and most of them have since closed down. A few have since migrated to publishing online.

Sadly, it is now the turn of Kathorus MAIL to join the camp.

This comes after almost 23 years of faithfully and diligently serving the community of Kathorus, and the “gut punch” experience has finally caught up with us. It has hit us where it hurts, and the impact has sent us reeling.
Not that I did not see the punch, but I thought I could ride out the storm by bobbing and weaving my way out of harm. I was hoping to eventually fight through to the end, believing that the struggling advertising support would improve and finally tip the fight in our favour.

I believe I fought a good fight over the years as I observed Kathorus MAIL emerge to enjoy tremendous growth and support, as well as an uncontested popularity from loyal members of the community of Kathorus since 2015.

The joint-venture with the Caxton Group saw Kathorus MAIL grow and spread its initial bulk-drop distribution at selected points to a wider footprint in the Kathorus townships of Katlehong, Vosloorus and Thokoza. It established Kathorus MAIL as the people’s favourite local Lokshin paper with a formal door-to-door distribution strategy.

During the past 10 years, I have cherished the dream of growing the newspaper into a household name in providing the community in the three townships of Kathorus with regular quality news. Copies of the newspaper reached a large percentage of families across the three largest townships in Ekurhuleni.

Kathorus MAIL was a dream that started out of nothing from the bedroom of my eldest daughter, which I had converted in an office back in 2002. The project later grew into a formidable community newspaper that served the communities of Kathorus diligently with honesty for two decades.

I thank the people of Kathorus for their overwhelming support and dedicated loyalty.

Then came Covid-19, bringing with it many other economic shocks and setbacks as the pandemic severely affected and crippled the finances of many small local enterprises that saw the newspaper as a vehicle to showcase their various products.

Since 2023, the Covid-19 challenges and setbacks have gradually eroded the stability and growth of the local media industry. This gradually led to the eventual decline we now see and the looming closure of Kathorus MAIL.

When stories about national and independent community newspapers closing down in the US surfaced, the UK and other parts of Europe also shared similar struggles. South African media owners did not dismiss this crisis. Neither did I think Kathorus MAIL was immune.

Deep down, many of us knew that the whirlwind would soon hit home. Sadly, our turn has now come, and Kathorus MAIL will shut its doors at the end of November 25.

This comes after years of being the eyes and ears of the community of Kathorus. We shared highlights just about every aspect of events that impacted the community, including births, losses, joys, pains, laughter, celebrations, fears and triumphs.

It is indeed a sad and heartfelt moment for me to bid farewell to all of our loyal and faithful readers who have stood by us all these years, and those who joined us along the way on our road to fame. I hope they, too, have enjoyed the ride and the journey as much as we have.

It has truly been a great adventure. From the bottom of my heart, I wish to thank the communities of Kathorus for their unwavering support. Together we made a great team, and now the time has come to call it quits!