Fin24 reports that just days after staff were told that their salary payments for March would be short, Independent Media has promised to pay journalists their full salaries before the end of the month.

Independent Media owns titles such as The Star, Isolezwe, Cape Argus, Cape Times and Pretoria News. On Friday, its CEO Takudzwa Hove informed staff they would only receive 75% of their salaries for March, with the balance to be paid later. Hove said the cuts were caused by a "very challenging business environment". But on Tuesday, journalists were informed that they would receive their full salaries before the end of the month. A spokesperson for Independent Media said that last week's confidential settlement between the Public Investment Corporation and IT group AYO had "absolutely nothing to do" with the difficulties in paying salaries. One of Independent Media shareholders, Sagarmatha Technologies, is a subsidiary of businessman Iqbal Survé's Sekunjalo Investment Holdings. AYO is a subsidiary of African Equity Empowerment Investments, which, like Independent Media, falls under Sekunjalo. Independent Media said on Tuesday that none of its staff had been paid by AYO. It said its difficulties in paying staff their full salaries on time stemmed from declining revenues and rising cost structures.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Jan Cronje at Fin24

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