About the publication
Established in September 2008, defenceWeb is the premier online African defence and security news publication, keeping readers up to date with current and emerging defence, security and military technology affairs in Africa.
defenceWeb offers professionals, specialists interested in defence matters in Africa, media and the general public a consolidated source for news, information, research and insight. Our focus audience is the key opinion former and decision maker in the military, defence industry, Cabinet, officialdom, academia and the media. For companies, defenceWeb provides a visible platform from which to access Africa’s defence and security market.
defenceWeb’s traffic has grown enormously over the last decade, starting off with just over 1 000 readers per month in October 2008. In September 2018, defenceWeb recorded 86 000 visitors to the Web site and 230 000 hits. Two years later, monthly traffic stood at 120 000 unique visitors and 500 000 page views. About half of this number comes from South Africa but defenceWeb also has significant audiences elsewhere in Africa, in Europe and North America, with readership in some 200 countries. Our traffic has been growing at an impressive rate year on year, ensuring the website remains Africa’s key defence information source.
Our products include daily defence and security news on our website; a daily no-cost newsletter delivered to your inbox; social media channels across LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and Android and Apple apps for handheld devices and tablets – the industry’s first totally free defence news application for iPhone, iPad and Android.
About our people
Editor
A graduate of Rhodes University with a Bachelor of Journalism, Guy Martin has been writing in the field of defence, with a focus on military aviation, since 2004. Guy has been published in over a dozen aviation and defence magazines, such as Air Forces Monthly, International Air Power Review, Combat Aircraft and Military Technology.
Senior reporter
Kim Helfrich has been actively involved in defence and military reporting for more than two decades, starting as a specialist defence reporter for the Pretoria News in the mid-1990s. He also covered the defence beat for The Citizen and The New Age prior to joining defenceWeb. His experience and knowledge has seen him address a number of SA National Defence Force training seminars on “The Military and the Media”. He was presented with the Chief of the SA Navy’s Commendation for his reporting on naval affairs. Environmental reporting is his other specialist area and he is a merit award winner in the annual Environmental Reporting Awards sponsored by SABMiller.
Junior journalist and social media manager
Relatively new to the field of defence, Justin Cronjé is a graduate of Rhodes University with a Bachelor of Journalism, specialising in television and documentary making. Justin has a keen interest in conflict journalism and has been to conflict areas like the Democratic Republic of Congo. The defence industry naturally lends itself to exciting video opportunities and Justin has aspirations of doing a journalism Master’s degree involving the defence industry, incorporating a documentary.
Sales director
A graduate of Wits University with a Bachelor of Commerce, Robert Mace has been working in the online publishing space since 1996. He is a founding member of ITWeb and has been working on defenceWeb since its inception in 2008. He is the managing partner of defenceWeb and is directly responsible for sales.
