M&G Media will publish the centre's investigative story output through its publications, the Mail & Guardian and Mail & Guardian Online. Moreover, it remains the centre's baseline funder, with a commitment at least equal to current expenditure on investigations.
The centre's investigators - nicknamed amaBhungane, isiZulu for the Dung Beetles - include multiple-award winning journalists Adriaan Basson, Jackie Mapiloko, Sam Sole and Stefaans Brümmer. Reinforced by newcomer Ilham Rawoot and a first intake of interns, the investigators promise to expose corruption and the abuse of power wherever they find it.
Mail & Guardian editor Nic Dawes commented, "'News', said William Randolph Hearst 'is something somebody doesn't want you to know'. That great publisher's insight has always been a guiding principle at the newspaper, where we believe that investigative journalism is crucial to our ability to live up the constitutional mandate of a free press.
"With greatly compromised institutions of state - from parliament to the prosecuting authorities - it increasingly falls to the media to do the crucial work of insisting on accountability, both in government and in the private sector.
"At the same time, the financial pressure on media companies is greater than ever. Our Centre for Investigative Journalism is a powerful and innovative approach that will enable us to strengthen our investigative work and to broaden it, despite the commercial pressures on our industry.
"From corruption and governance issues to health, the environment and poverty, amaBhungane will be working to turn the dross of greed and self-interest into fertilizer for democracy.
"Also core to these activities will be to plough back to benefit the wider profession: the propagation of investigative skills in the country and the region, as well as advocacy around issues such as access to information."
Investigative journalism is an expensive, risky investment. It needs time and resources to succeed, to uncover facts beyond the apparent, to hold the powerful to account. In a purely commercial environment, good investigative journalism often struggles to compete with instantly gratifying, fast-food journalism - the kind that sells papers today but wraps fish tomorrow.
Non-profit, donor funded models represent an alternative that has already gained ground in the Americas and Europe. Adequate funding without a profit motive helps ensure that the public's interest in the exposure of wrongdoing is served.
Zohra Dawood, OSF-SA executive director, commented, "The OSF-SA supports a robust and independent media environment as a vital pillar of democracy. Access to quality information is a cornerstone for citizen participation in a democracy.
"Support for excellence in media content remains an imperative for the OSF-SA, so that information as a public good is the driving motivation in newsrooms.
"In supporting the Mail & Guardian over the years, the OSF-SA salutes its commitment to investigative journalism in particular. Rights of journalists to practice their craft, without fear are a staple of the newspaper.
"We are proud to be a part of an initiative that will continue a fearless tradition of exposing wrongdoing in the public interest.
"The training of and support for investigative journalists is imperative to ensure a diversity of opinions and ideas to enable informed decisions by citizens."
The centre is a registered association not for gain (a section 21 company under South African law). More than just an investigative newsroom, its mandate is to:
The internship programme aims to equip working journalists, from any media organisation in South Africa and the region, with investigative skills. Secondments are encouraged.
The centre's advocacy efforts will aim to counter impediments to the free flow of information where these are inconsistent with democratic best practice. Past such efforts in which individual investigators have participated, include submissions to parliament regarding intelligence and companies bills, game-changing litigation to give practical effect to access-to-information legislation, and a successful court review of a 'whitewash' report by the Public Protector.
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