The masters behind the magic.

The masters behind the
magic.

Verashni Pillay

Founder & Editor-in-Chief

Verashni Pillay is the founder of explain, and is passionate about empowering citizens to hold those in power to account. She was previously editor-in-chief of the Mail & Guardian and HuffPost South Africa, and head of digital at Power FM.

Tshego Mphahlele

Accountant Associate

Tshego is a journalist from Pretoria. A keen follower of social media trends, he is interested in high fantasy media, politics, science, talk radio, reading, and listening to music.

He is also probably one of the only people left who still plays Pokémon Go.

Kamogelo Ndlovu

Writer

Kamogelo is a journalist who graduated in Journalism from the University of the Free State. He’s just a simple guy who’s really into sport, like, more than anything else. He basically lives and breathes it because that’s where he feels happiest. He’s into all kinds of sports, but football and cricket are his absolute favourites.

Thandi Selepe

Sales Admin Intern

Thandi is a journalism graduate with a keen interest in crime documentaries. Curious and creative, she enjoys exploring stories about people and human behaviour. Outside the newsroom, she can usually be found binge-watching game shows, crocheting, or baking something that rarely lasts long.

Our Partners

iNtatheli Media

Dianne Hawker

iNtatheli Media - Media training and content

Dianne is a media allrounder, experienced in print, broadcast and digital. A former eNCA reporter, Dianne was a news editor at The Times and Timeslive before leading the Power 98.7 newsroom. She helped launch Newzroom Afrika and is now Editor for Video for Timeslive Multimedia.

Big Beard

Nathan Simons

Big Beard - Web development

Nathan is a 10-year veteran in the website design and development space. His passion has recently turned towards design and in 2020 he founded Big Beard Web Solutions, one of the rare, successful B-BBEE companies operating in South Africa’s tech sector.
iNtatheli Media

Candice Bailey

Ntatheli Media - Media training and content

Candice has 15 years of media experience, honing her craft at the Cape Argus, Sunday Independent, Johannesburg Star and Sunday Times. She worked as an investigative journalist at Corruption Watch, and served as the Health and Medicine Editor at The Conversation Africa.
Curious Tree

Melissa Chetty

Curious Tree - Social media strategy

A strategist and consultant with 12 years of experience in social media, digital marketing, and content, Melissa consults for the South Africa Media Innovation Program and runs an internship program training and placing young journalists and creatives with independent media startups.