Qaanitah Hunter
POLITICAL EDITOR AT NEWS24
❛There are things that are bigger than the announcements of today, and we see the consequences much later.❜
Why we think she’s brilliant: For her book Balance of Power, which chronicles the end of the Jacob Zuma years and the genesis of Cyril Ramaphosa’s rise to the presidency. Her theory is that the events of that time would in many ways determine the trajectory and ultimate impact of Ramaphosa’s presidency. SMWX’s Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh commented on how everywhere he and his team went during the elections, there she was. She says conversations she considered random at the time turned out to provide valuable insights to what was to come. Cyril Ramaphosa’s return to politics was actually engineered by the very man who five years later would vehemently oppose his ascendance to the presidency. Balance of Power takes you into Ace Magashule’s home and the conversation that took Ramaphosa, who many believe should have been deputy president to Nelson Mandela in 1994, to the highest office in the country.
An astute political commentator, Qaanitah has a knack for asking awkward questions that catch her interviewees slightly off-guard, which reaps some unexpectedly frank answers. The courage to stick her neck out fearlessly is hard-won: she has spoken openly about the constant harassment and trolling that journalists face from all sides. She considers it a media freedom issue that should be prioritised, fearing that if things continue as they are, the next generation of journos will be too intimidated to ask the pertinent questions.