The team was awarded for the investigations documented in the Sunday Times since February 2013, in which former communications minister Dina Pule’s corruption with her lover Phosana Mngqibisa and other officials, was exposed. The winning entry was titled: It’s official: Pule lied

In total, more than 683 submissions spanning 14 categories were contested.

Commenting on the team’s commitment Sunday Times editor, Phylicia Oppelt, says, “This award confirms the courage and integrity of our three journalists – Stephan, Mzilikazi and Rob – and the intense pressure they withstood from former communications minister Dina Pule. It personifies the very best of investigative journalism in South Africa and symbolises the courage of the three journalists in persisting with the Pule story even as they were being publicly vilified.”

The Sunday Times threesome have previously won the 2012 Standard Bank Sivukile South African Story of the Year Award for their reporting on the alleged hit squad operating in the Cato Manor Police Department in KwaZulu-Natal. They continue to persist with the Sunday Times’ determination to uncover crime and corruption in the South African democracy.