By Zubeida Jaffer
Two Muslim Views journalists Mahmood Sanglay and Yaseen Bardien took the top award at the AVBOB Forum of Community Journalists (FCJ) Excellence Awards in Centurion recently. Not only did they win the Story of the Year Award but also became the first journalists to win this newly-created award category launched this year.
They were not present at the ceremony due to their paper’s financial constraints and received the award from the President of the Association of Independent Publishers, Anetta Mangxaba. (See her with the two of them in the photograph above at the Muslim Views offices). “It gave us a sense of affirmation,” said Sanglay who also serves as Muslim Views CEO. “It’s a struggle to remain sustainable in a disrupted news media universe. But we believe in our cause and will continue to address issues that matter.”
The award was in recognition of their investigation that used laboratory science, expert scrutiny and supply-chain reporting to test whether water sold in South Africa as sacred Zamzam was authentic.
The competition drew just over 600 entries across 17 categories, assessed by a panel of 22 judges. Sanglay and Bardien were among ten finalists for Story of the Year.
In its report on the award, Muslim Views said the investigation began in 2022 after questions arose about the abundance of commercially sold Zamzam in South Africa despite the Saudi Kingdom prohibiting its commercial export.
Zamzam comes from a single well in Makkah and carries profound religious significance for Muslims worldwide.
See the winning article Lab tests raise questions on Zamzam water sold in South Africa at www.muslimviews.co.za.
Scientific scrutiny was central to the investigation’s credibility, said Muslim Views. Expert geohydrologists and specialists were consulted to interpret the results and test whether geological or treatment-related factors could plausibly explain the differences.
Muslim Views and Groundup jointly published the findings in June 2025. Muslim Views, first known as Muslim News has been in operation since 1960. The newspaper was published for approximately 26 years, from December 1960 until August 1986, producing an estimated 670 fortnightly editions. It ceased publication in 1986 because of a combination of state repression, financial and organisational pressures. By then its founding editor Imam Abdullah Haron had been killed in detention and a second editor, A Kays was banned for five years and had to resign. Not long after its closure, Muslim Views replaced Muslim News and has remained true to its mission. This year they broke the glass ceiling for community journalists when two of their own ventured into long-form investigative journalism and made their mark.
