By: Chris Moerdyk


And, contrary to rumour, Brkic said he had not left the country.

This closure has been a bitter blow not only for Brkic, but for his co-editors, Phillip de Wet and Kevin Bloom - both extremely talented investigative journalists who, with Brkic, brought a refreshing breath of fresh air to the country's business publishing industry.

Both Maverick and Empire, in my opinion, have set benchmarks for quality journalism.

ThisDay

It is indeed extremely sad that quality publications such as that excellent but ill-fated newspaper, ThisDay, and now Maverick and Empire magazines, end up on the scrap-heap while so many other newspapers and magazines, that don't give a toss about quality editorial and simply pander to the whim of advertisers and unashamed advertorials, manage to keep going.

Mvelaphanda Holdings acquired a majority shareholding in Business Century early last year when additional working capital was needed. The company was started by Yugoslav-born Brkic with help from the Industrial Development Corporation.

Bigger company

Earlier this year, Mvelaphanda executive director Mark Willcox said that he had been in talks with several media groups following a decision to place Business Century into a bigger company due to Business Century not being able to achieve sustainability with only two titles.

The past few months have taken their toll on Brkic, who has had some severe health problems brought on by stress. He is clearly taking the closure of his magazines very badly and one almost gets the sense, talking to him, that he believes he is the only publisher ever to have had a publication close down.

Hopefully, he will soon discover that there are actually very few publishers in this country who have not tasted failure at some stage or other and like them, he will pick himself up and start all over again.

Jealousy

There are many in the industry who do not like Brkic - the majority of whom are simply jealous. He is a maverick in every sense of the word, an idealist in the extreme, and a very canny newsman and writer. It would a pity for the industry to lose this sort of talent.

Hopefully he, along with De Wet and Bloom, will take the lessons they have learnt from Maverick and Empire, however painful they have been, and move forward to even greater things.

[14 Oct 2008 08:21]

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