The lads and lasses at Radio 702 won’t yet realise it, but if my experience is anything to go by they should be taking autograph books to work. My fabulous couple years at the independent radio station were under station manager Malcolm Fried, now London-based global head of marketing at Investec. Youngsters then being chased around the place included now local media superstars Gareth Cliff, Leanne Manas and the late Xolani Gwala.
It was one of the most vibrant times in a long career and many friendships established in the pressure cooker of live talk radio have survived the decades since. Among them is Biznews’s rugby correspondent David O’Sullivan. And the inimitable Yusuf Abramjee, the ace crime reporter who channelled that passion into active citizenry in the toughest field of all.
His latest project is Tax Justice SA which was launched on Monday. In Yusuf’s words, its purpose is to encourage the rest of us to “have the courage to fight illicit trade and out-of-control crime – stop sitting back expecting someone else to do the work.” He intends keeping the pressure on government to “stop pussyfooting around the issue and to start acting.”
Abramjee told me yesterday the Nugent Commission of Inquiry was clear: former SARS Commissioner Tom Moyane systematically disbanded the investigative units making it a free-for-all for money launderers and tax cheats. He supports finance minister Tito Mboweni’s call in Parliament for SARS to reimpose an “intrusive” investigative unit. Soonest. So do we.
