The Citizen (South African newspaper)

The paper was founded in 1976 during the apartheid era by Louis Luyt,[1] at which time it was the only major English-language newspaper favourable to the ruling National Party. In 1978, during the Muldergate Scandal, it was revealed that the money to establish and finance the newspaper had come from a secret slush fund of the Department of Information, and ultimately from the Department of Defence.[2]

In 1998, the paper was bought by Caxton and CTP Publishers and Printers Limited,[3] one of the largest publishers and printers in South Africa. The company is involved in various fields of publishing and printing such as newspapers, magazines, commercial print, book printing, stationery, packaging and labels, as well as manufacturing ink for web presses.

In 2012, Eureka Zandberg took over from Greg Stewart as the publisher of The Citizen. Along with Editor Martin Williams, she brought in renowned design guru Dr. Mario Garcia[4] to give the newspaper a complete revamp. In Dr. Garcia's words, "In South Africa, The Citizen decided to face those challenges and seize the opportunities, while sending a message to its devoted readers: you have changed, and so have we." The new edition hit the streets on 1 August 2013.

Zandberg told South African media blogsite GrubStreet[5] that while The Citizen had had makeovers before, it was never to the extent of this one: "If you put The Citizen next to other papers, it felt tired. We thought that we owed our readers a face lift, a better product and a better experience."

On 7 October 2013, The Citizen announced[6] that Editor Martin Williams would be stepping down. Williams, who had been with The Citizen for 19 years, and contributed to its many successes, retired at the end of October.

His replacement was named as Steve Motale, who at the time was the executive editor of Pretoria News. Motale had started off as a reporter at The Citizen in 2002, later becoming political editor and then editor of Citizen Metro.

The editor is now Trevor Stevens. Stevens, who joined The Citizen in 2001 as a sports reporter, became editor of The Citizen in 2017. He is also the current Saturday Citizen editor – a position he held from 2010.

• City (Mon.-Sat.) – lifestyle and entertainment supplement
• Racing Express (Mon.-Sat.) – horse racing supplement
• Phakaaathi (Tue.) – local and international soccer supplement
• Motoring (Wed.) – motoring and local motorsport supplement
• Gaming (Thu.) – gaming supplement
• Buy in Bulk (Thu.) – weekly wholesale supplement
• Hammer & Gavel (Fri.) – auctions supplement
• Phakaaathi Plus (Fri.) – local and international soccer supplement
• Travel (Sat.) - travel supplement

• List of newspapers in South Africa

• Official website
• SAARF website