About us

The company has been, since its inception, compliant with both the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, the Employment Equity Act (where applicable) as well as an active participant in the National Skills Development framework.

MD, Reedwaan Vally, is a professional media specialist with 27 years of experience in publishing, graphic design and printing. He was a partner in The Graphic Equalizer, a design studio that produced prominent anti-apartheid media and publications during the 1980s. He worked for the then Weekly Mail and subsequent Mail & Guardian as head of production from 1989 to 1996 when he started STE Publishers. He is a development sector media specialist and an innovative publisher who has challenged publishing stereotypes and created a unique list of books that reflects the changing times in which we live.

Marketing and Sales Director, Angela McClelland, is a professional communications specialist with 25 years experience in the media and marketing sectors. Angela has raised STE’s profile in the media and retail trade and increased the company’s market-share across all sectors. She has worked in television and radio (producer at SABC, producer, presenter and senior copywriter at 702 Talk Radio, presenter at Radio Today, producer and presenter at Africam) and as a freelance print journalist prior to her move into publishing. Angela was the marketing and sales manager at Jacana Media before joining STE Publishers in May 2004.

Director of Special Projects, Kevin Humphrey, has been involved in media and publishing since the mid 70s. As the founder of the Graphic Equalizer studio in the 80s he brought under one roof a group of individuals who used their media skills and talents to service the growing media needs of anti-apartheid organisations at the time. This led to police harassment and Kevin’s exile in London where he worked in the British publishing industry and on various projects for the ANC and related organisations. Returning from exile he ran Newspapers in Education project for the Independent Group, was involved in a mass media election and democracy education project and directed the Gauteng government’s HIV/AIDS media campaign before re-uniting with Reedwaan at STE in 2003. He is an expert in project development from conception to execution to distribution.

Editor, Dan Mare, studied at the University of Natal, Durban, where he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Philosophy. He then earned an Honours degree in Philosophy at the University of KwaZulu Natal. Dan is a talented addition to the company and has a promising future in publishing.

Graphic Design Consultant, Adam Rumball, is highly trained in all aspects of Graphic Design and holds a degree in the subject from Norwich City College of Arts and Design. Adam worked as a software developer for Adobe (makers of professional design software) in Edinburgh. His creative leadership has won STE many accolades for its cutting edge design, not only of books but a huge array of media products.

Graphic Designer, Alusa Khayeka, is qualified in all aspects of graphic design, web development, animation and has computer repair and maintenance skills. He studied at College Campus in Parktown, Central Johannesburg College and the Buruburu Institute of Fine Arts in Kenya.

Accountant, Ronnie Shumba, has extensive experience in the accounting field. He is currently studying for the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants Professional Scheme and for a BSc Honours Applied Accounting with the ACCA Oxford Brookes University Joint Programme. Since taking up this post at the beginning of 2007 Ronnie has vastly improved our accounting systems, much to the benefit of our general bookkeeping. His financial management skills have added greatly to the strengths of the company and signaled an improvement in our overall planning processes.

Business Development Director, Zanele Mashinini, also shares the history of being a member of the Graphic Equalizer team in the 80s. Since then he has continued to develop in the areas of mass communications through massive educational campaigns for large NGOs and the Government - utilising a wide range of media including print, radio, TV and special events. Zanele brings his marketing and media skills and his vast array of contacts in government, civil society and the private sector to ensure that STE’s contract publishing services are fully utilised and that our list of mass social education publications consolidate their place in the market.

With 12 staff made up of eight males (5 black / 3 white) and four females (3 black / 1 white), the equity of the company is 70% black and 30% white.

STE Publishers has a solid track record and has worked on a number of integrated publishing projects over the past seven years.

In 2000, STE Publishers won a GCIS tender to publish the South Africa Yearbook 2001/2002. This was the first time in almost 30 years that the SA Yearbook had been outsourced to a private-sector company. The SA Yearbook is a high-quality, carefully researched reference guide to South Africa. STE won the tender again for the 2002/03, 2003/04, 2004/05 and 2005/06 editions and have extended the Yearbook product range to include a mini-version of the SA Yearbook entitled Pocket Guide to South Africa, which we’ve published for the past three years and also an interactive CD-ROM version of the Yearbook for the past two years.

STE has successfully published a self-sustainable learning journal, Service Delivery Review, aimed at Senior Management in the Public Service for the DPSA. We are contracted to produce four editions per annum. In March last year we launched a new political magazine, Molotov Cocktail, edited by James Sanders. This quarterly publication has proven to be extremely popular and sold nationwide through CAN stores.

Our book publishing division has enjoyed remarkable success in the seven years of its existence. In 2000, we published our first title, The world that made Mandela, by esteemed social historian, Luli Callinicos. This book sold out all 5,000 copies in just 18 months and has redefined the concept of a high-quality, glossy coffee-table book. It is scheduled to be reprinted before the end of this year in a second edition.

This first book attracted many other books similar in style and we’ve been able to grow our illustrated, coffee-table niche whilst continuing the trend of challenging existing publishing stereotypes in the production of quality hardcover books on South African popular culture and history – whilst incorporating brilliant book design. Titles in this category now include: Johannesburg – One City Colliding Worlds by the former Chair of Architecture at Wits University, Professor Lindsay Bremner, which is published in three languages simultaneously: English, French and German, each next to the other on the page; Makeba – the Miriam Makeba Story by Miriam Makeba in Conversation with Nomsa Mwamuka; Come Back Africa by Lionel Rogosin; In the Company of God by award-winning New York Times photographer, Joao Silva and Jo’burg by award-winning photographer, Guy Tillim. In 2006 we designed and laid out a hard-cover, photographic coffee-table entitled Portraits of African Writers by photographer, George Hallett, for Wits University Press.

Our academic list, although new, is also growing and to date we’ve released: The Radio Journalism Toolkit by Franz Krüger, co-published with the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism, Telecommunications Law in South Africa edited by Lisa Thornton, Yassim Carrim, Patric Mtshaulana and Pippa Reyburn, Inkosana Encane (The Little Prince in isiZulu) by Antoine du Saint-Exupéry / translated by Professor Sibusiso S. Madondo, which is the first in a series of translations of this classic tale into South Africa’s indigenous languages, Relativity – “Township Stories” by Paul Grootboom and Presley Chweneyagae, which is the first in a series of Market Theatre play scripts that we’ve published under our new Dung Beetle Drama imprint and Creative Beginnings – an innovative, hands-on approach to artmaking for adults and children by Lindy Solomon. In July this year we will publish The Youth Survival Guide, a highly informative pocket guide to every aspect of life in South Africa aimed at matriculants and young adults.

Our overall list has grown from just one book in 2000, to 47 titles as at June 2007. Recent releases include: Fit to Govern: The Native Intelligence of Thabo Mbeki by Ronald Suresh Roberts, Johannesburg Transition – Architecture and Society, 1950 – 2000 by architect, Clive Chipkin, Red on Black – the Story of the South African Poster Movement by Judy Seidman, Shadow People by Shunna Pillay, Walking on Air by Colleen Matthews, Africa Continent of Economic Opportunity by David Fick and Oliver Tambo: His Life & Legacy by Luli Callinicos.

All of our publishing projects have successfully integrated with the needs of the retail book and magazine trade. The ordering, merchandising, in-store promotions and publicity campaigns, launches, etc. are all expedited successfully because we understand the needs of the book stores and work closely with them. We have also set up sales, marketing a distribution in the USA and Canada, the U.K. and Europe.

STE has a broad base of skills in the world of publishing and the preparation of printed material. We have excellent contacts with other service providers, including photo and picture libraries, specialist writers and editors and a full range of printers and manufacturers of marketing and point-of-sale advertising material. We delight in serving our clients’ needs and providing elegant and dynamic products.