Interview with Graeme Joffe

Graeme Joffe has been involved in sports journalism since his varsity days. As a student, while doing his Journalism degree at Rhodes University, Graeme worked on Rhodes Music Radio. After completing his degree, he moved to Atlanta in the United States, working as a World Sport Presenter for CNN from 1992 to 1999. On his return to South Africa, Graeme presented Supersport for MNet. He spent eight years with 94.7 Highveld Stereo as a popular sports presenter. He was well-known for his presence on the breakfast show The Rude Awakening, where his ‘stupid sports jokes’ were a highlight for many listeners. However, Graeme had always taken sports seriously. In 2013 he published his first exposé, in his Finweek column, of the corruption in South African sports circles, focusing particularly on the management and disbursement of funds from the National Lottery. Shortly thereafter, his column was axed. This was the first in an increasingly serious progression of threats against him as he delved further into the corruption at the highest levels of South African sport. In 2015 Graeme fled to the US carrying only a suitcase and a laptop. He has authored a book entitled Sport: Greed and Betrayal focusing on corruption within sporting federations in South Africa, as well as racism, quotas and the lack of real transformation at grassroots level. The book is available to all readers via open access.