Barbara Maregele

DEPUTY EDITOR AT GROUNDUP

Why we think she’s brilliant: Barbara focuses on the human stories behind the news. The subjects of her articles are the marginalised who often bear the consequences of the political chicanery and organised crime that investigative journalists chronicle. Two years ago she wrote a piece called ‘The grim life of a Philippi farmworker’. The subtitle read, ‘But farmers say they too are struggling’. It’s the kind of introduction to a story that is emblematic of both GroundUp and Barbara’s practical idealism. In words and pictures, it tells the story of Fransina Sauls, who moved to Cape Town from Riviersonderend with her children about 20 years ago in search of work, and has been working and living on the Bock family’s pig and vegetable farm in the Philippi Horticultural Area for nearly 10 years now. Their home is a severely dilapidated building on the farm.

In any story where the disparities seem stark, there’s a temptation to highlight only the bad, but GroundUp and Barbara are bucking that trend, choosing instead to present the many facets of the problem and in the process helping to illuminate the way forward.

What drives her: GroundUp’s mission statement reads: ‘We report news that is in the public interest, with an emphasis on the human rights of vulnerable communities. We want our stories to make a difference.’ And they do. While Barbara was writing that story, a new forum that included commercial and small farmers, businesspeople and City of Cape Town officials had their inaugural meeting. For the very first time, farmworkers were given a seat at the table.