Banking on change with News24 subscriber Tsholanang Mabalane

By day, father-of-three and avid business and sports news fan, Tsholanang works as a financial analyst, but kicks off his free time coaching football in the evenings and tuning in to the latest news with News24.

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By: Saara Mowlana

Sitting down to chat with News24’s Deputy Business Editor Ahmed Areff, Senior Business Analyst and father of three Tsholanang Mabalane caught us up on how he spends his free time when not invested in the world of finance.

“First and foremost, I’m a father. Before anything else, I’m a father of two wonderful girls and a boy,” gushes the proud dad. In his free time, he values spending it with his kids and uplifting his local community.

“I’m a multifaceted individual who’s not just purely into finance,” he explains. “I do other things – I coach football in the evenings and am also a part of the local community policing forum.”

Tsholanang is one of over 85 000 subscribers who have partnered with News24 as it seeks to bring quality, trusted journalism to South Africa. In this series I Am News24, we get to know some of our loyal subscribers and celebrate them and their shared love of the news.

While he may spend his free time out of the office, he still likes to plug into the world around him through trusted updates on News24. We paired him up with Ahmed to exchange what they enjoy about business news and what Tsholanang wishes to read more of.

When Ahmed asked Tsholanang why he chose to put his faith and trust in the News24 platform, he answered:

“It’s honest. It questions literally everything that there is. And, more importantly, I feel that the opinions are very different,” Tsholanang enthuses.

“Even if you read from one opinion piece to another about the same thing – it will still be varied and you get different aspects of it. So, it’s not necessarily just one view of things consistently.”

Tsholanang appreciates the relatability as well of the news he finds and engages with on the platform. This is the reason he did not hesitate to subscribe to News24.

“I started subscribing, literally, from the very beginning - as soon as subscription was a thing I joined."

As for how News24 journalists ensure to maintain this relatability with readers, Ahmed explains that it has to do with understanding the audience you’re hoping to impact and the environment and platforms you’re pushing content on.

“You can have a long story, but you could also have a two-minute video explainer. Or you could have a graphic that explains things in a way that somebody can understand. It’s all about reaching those target markets on the platform that they are,” elaborates Ahmed.

He goes on to share how older target audiences are more likely to engage with news stories on Facebook, while younger audiences will consume their news from fresher social media apps and short-form video platforms like TikTok and Instagram.

Ahmed Areff, News24’s Deputy Business Editor

Ahmed Areff, News24’s Deputy Business Editor

As for Tsholanang’s news habits, he often engages with business news updates to stay on the pulse of trends in the industry that don’t only affect his day-to-day business routine, but also his personal money matters.

“For me, to know what is happening, where it is happening, what the impact could be, actually involves a lot with regard to how it is that I see the potential future for my kids,” he shares.

As an avid reader and consumer of News24 Business updates, Tsholanang appreciates News24's ability to keep him informed on the world around him and how it may impact his business.

“Reading the news is what keeps the world moving - you don't just understand one side of the world, you get to see multiple sides of it,” Tsholanang explains. “Even conflicts happening all the way in Israel can have an impact on us - so you need to understand what it is that's happening, how it could impact you, as well as how it is that your life could change tomorrow.”

The biggest challenge Ahmed and his fellow business writers tend to face is simplifying the language used in business. This is one of the biggest issues he finds that withholds South Africans from being more actively involved in calling for change.

“The problem is that business is a world that’s kind of couched in terminology that most people don’t understand,” Ahmed explains.

“Part of the reason why the global financial crisis happened and what happened with the banks in the US was that no one understood what was going on. And once you can break it down into a way people understand – then people felt angry about it. There’s a whole world that has its own jargon and its own terminology and its own way of being that is sometimes purposely built that way so that it’s easy to obfuscate what you’re doing – it’s easier to cook the books.”

As for why Tsholanang chooses to subscribe, his reasoning is simple – to democratise the news and have it free from the influence of corporate and governmental funding.

“News24 needs, honestly, without fail, all the independent money it can get,” shares Tsholanang.

“That makes all the difference to me because then I get balanced news and I get honest news – not news that is pushed with a particular agenda based on who’s financing.”

Watch the full video to hear more about how Tsholanang makes the most out of his News24 subscription.

News24 is home to some of the country’s most groundbreaking, trusted and quality journalism. These stories are made possible by not only the journalists who write them, but also the subscribers who read them.

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