Rotary Africa

July 2017 marks the 90th anniversary ofRotary Africa. The magazine, established in1927, has undergone two name changes andexpanded its distribution to include Englishspeaking Africa. Rotary Africa is publishedby Rotary In Africa a registered publicbenefit organisation.
Rotary Africa is one of the more than
30 regional magazines (licenced by RotaryInternational) which communicate withRotarians as part of the Rotary World

Magazine Press. More than half of Rotarians
worldwide receive a regional magazine. Thesepublications are distributed in more than
130 countries, published in 24 languages andhave a combined circulation of 872 000.
Each magazine has a regional pointof view but also includes articles andphotographs of international interest fromThe Rotarian...

Rotary arrived in Africa with the formation of the Rotary Club of Johannesburg
in 1921. One of the club’s charter members was ‘Rusty’ Rusterholz, a US
businessman living in South Africa. In 1925 clubs were chartered in Durban,
Pietermaritzburg, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. The Rotary Club of East London
was chartered the following year. With the formation of these clubs, District 55
came into being and ‘Rusty’ Rusterholz was elected first district governor. In
1927 Rusty suggested the establishment of a magazine to serve the district’s
eight clubs. Benjamin Herbert Dodd, the editor of East London’s Daily Dispatch,offered to run it.

1927
The first issue of South African Rotary waspublished in July. It was a four page paper, about
10 centimetres wide and 20 centimetres deep smaller than many club bulletins. The first print
order was for 400 copies, which allowed every
Rotarian to receive a copy and for a small reserve
to be kept.

1928
Dodd asked to be relieved of the job of running themagazine and Percy Bishop, assistant editor The
Natal Advertiser (now The Daily News), accepted
the task. Percy ran the magazine for 18 years.

1930
In July, the magazine’s name was changed toRotary In Africa to reflect the expansion of Rotary
across the continent with the chartering of clubs
in Nairobi and Bulawayo. This extended theboundaries of District 55 to include Africa southof the equator. By the time the district conference
was held in 1930, there were 17 Rotary clubs on
the continent.

1945
Glen Buchanan became editor and was the onlyeditor who had no experience in journalism.
Although there were only 21 clubs and about 500
Rotarians in the district at the time, Glen and hisAnn, Mary, saved the magazine from extinction.

1948

1970

Kelsey Buchanan was appointed editor in January.
He was the managing editor of the South African
Mining Journal group of papers. There were now
27 clubs and 900 Rotarians in District 55 (between
Nairobi and Cape Town).

Rotary in Africa, a not-for-profit company limited
by guarantee, was formed. The company stillexists and is run by a board of directors who areRotarians. All current, immediate incoming andpast governors of Districts 9200, 9210, 9211,9212, 9220, 9250, 9270, 9300, 9320, 9350,9370 and 9400 are ex officio members of Rotaryin Africa

1965
Neels Meyer, who was editor of the South African
Sugar Journal, took over the reins in May andalthough not a Rotarian, carefully nurtured themagazine’s growth through another periodof expansion. District 55 was redistricted intoDistricts 25 and 26 in 1950 and Rotary In Africa
now served the 167 clubs.

1983
It was decided to drop the word ‘in’ and themagazine became Rotary Africa but the publishingcompany remained Rotary in Africa.

19701996

Peter Wrinch-Schulz, managing director of Group
Editors (Pty) Ltd, took over total management editorial, business and printing and spent 26years as editor.

Derrick Couper, who had over 30 years’ experience inthe technology of electronic typesetting and printing- a career he adopted after 21 years of farming, wasappointed as editor.

2008
In May, Derrick suddenly passed away after
receiving his second Paul Harris Sapphire pin thenight before. With less than two weeks until themagazine needed to be at the printers, the griefstricken Rotary in Africa board sought advice
from Robyn Scott, editor of the Highway Mail
newspaper. On Robyn’s recommendation theboard asked Sarah van Heerden to act as theinterim editor

2009
After a few months of burning the midnight oil,
Sarah applied for the position of Rotary Africa’s
editor and was officially appointed in January
2009.

2017
In 90 years, the magazine has only had eight
editors: BH Dodd, Percy Bishop, Glen Buchanan,Kelsey Buchanan, Neels Meyer, Peter WrinchSchulz, Derrick Couper and Sarah van Heerden.
The magazine is now available in digital and print.

Rotary Africa continues to chronicle the activities
of Rotarians in Districts 9210, 9211, 9212, 9220,9350, 9370 and 9400.