Media personality, Yusuf Abramjee has been named the “Newsmaker of the Year” at the annual Financial Mail (FM) AdFocus 2011 Awards in Johannesburg last night.

Abramjee is Head of News and Current Affairs at Primedia Broadcasting, a Lead SA activist, Head of Crime Line and Chairman of the National Press Club.

The jurors praised Abramjee for his role in making the headlines for the right reasons. Neil van der Wiele, who chaired the AdFocus jury said many of South Africa’s advertising and communications leaders were part of the panel and the “external auditing of the jury was processed by Deloitte, bringing new levels of objectivity and integrity to the awards.”

In presenting the award, they sighted Abramjee’s role in spearheading the campaign against the Protection of Information Bill (POIB) as one of the reasons for honouring him. He led the Black Tuesday campaign the past week. He was praised for his respective roles at Crime Line and Lead SA (see attached for more background).

Abramjee said he was “humbled and honoured to receive the award. It’s been a team effort and I salute my colleagues and supporters. We will continue to make a difference wherever we can. We will do what’s right and fight for our rights. We all have to work together to create a better South Africa. We all need to Lead SA.”

The National Press Club has thanked South Africans for supporting ‘Black Tuesday’.

“We asked to stand up and you responded,” said Yusuf Abramjee, chairperson of the club.

Abramjee said the Protection of Information Bill “was accepted by Parliament, but rejected by South Africa.

“If the need arises, we will declare a Black Monday, Black Tuesday, Black Wednesday, Black Thursday, Black Friday, Black Saturday and a Black Sunday.”

He said it was a black day for South Africa and the press club is saddened by what happened in Parliament today.

“It is a sad day for our democracy. Today was a black day for free speech, a black day for freedom of expression and a black day for media freedom.”

Abramjee, who protested with other editors and journalists outside parliament, said it is unfortunate that the MP�s closed their eyes to what the public wanted.

He said the press club would continue to fight for media freedom in South Africa.

Abramjee said the press club supports SANEF and the Right2Know campaign. “We will engage with them and other bodies to decide on the way forward. With one step closer to becoming law, we support the move to take it to the Constitutional Court,” he said.

For enquiries contact: Yusuf Abramjee, Tel 082 441 4283

The National Press Club has congratulated its chairman, Yusuf Abramjee, for his relentless fight against crime in South Africa.

This follows yesterday’s arrest in Johannesburg of a clergyman, Josias Mabaso, who allegedly defrauded the Gauteng Department of Education of millions of rand.

Abramjee, head of corporate affairs and communications at Primedia and a Lead SA executive, alerted the Hawks after learning about the alleged fraud. He was instrumental in the arrest of Mabaso, having recorded a conversation in which Mabaso confessed to the crime and also tried to bribe him.

Press club general manager Ben Rootman says the club is proud of the leading role played by Abramjee in issues that affect South African society. “We support him in these projects and, as the National Press Club, we salute him for exerting the power of the media when necessary.

“We call on all South Africans, from the top leaders in the public and private sector to every other citizen, to follow his example to help root out corruption in our country.”

The National Press Club, based in Pretoria, currently has just under 450 members from across the country.