The internal battle that President Cyril Ramaphosa is experiencing with his Ace-nemesis is more than the usual in-fighting skirmish – it’s a full-blown showdown for control of this country with the potential to derail the salvage operation of RSA. To be clear, we’re not siding with either of them. We’re only interested in ensuring that we can continue to expose corruption and deliver quality, independent journalism to our readers.

While the "leaders" of the country have been having their “pistols at dawn” moment , South Africans are fighting for their lives and livelihoods. Every industry is feeling the effect of the pandemic while our government continues their usual programming: Awarding tenders to their nearest and dearest, and busying themselves with party in-fighting.

We're in the Truth business at Daily Maverick, so we thought it time to let you know our truth. "Daily Maverick Close To Closing" was our reality for 10 years. More times than we'd like to admit, we were unsure where the next payroll was coming from. Since we launched Maverick Insider and felt the effect of our members' support, we’ve been able to steady the ship. And then Covid-19 hit. As the economy continues to shake our footing, like media houses throughout the country, we have once again become unstable. Our arch-nemesis is closure.

We look at our work as an essential public service and have committed the last decade to bringing you news, analysis and investigations that matter. When Kardashian click-bait journalism was a thing, we told them to go fish. When others chased pageviews, we chased the story. When others erected paywalls, we launched a voluntary membership effort instead.  Since then, 13,000 readers have signed up to become Maverick Insiders because they appreciate what we do and why we do what we do. They’ve bought into our "why" and have become part of an active and engaged community that’s ensuring we can keep playing with Aces against corruption. It’s hard work, often risky, and it costs a lot to keep quality journalism alive, which means we need more of our readers to join our cause.

Because here’s the cold, hard truth:

A Free Press is like electricity – the public will only miss it when it’s gone.

While the internal battle of the ANC rages on, the rest of us are being asked to be part of a solution. By signing up to Maverick Insider, you become part of a tribe that not only helps us continue our corruption-busting work, but is shaping the next decade of Daily Maverick through a cause that connects us all and is much bigger than ourselves.

Now, wouldn’t that be an Ace in the pack?

YES - I want to support Daily Maverick's journalism