Hayibo.com, a South African parody and satire news site, will be closing down for good on December 21, two years after it was saved by last minute funding from Cape Media.
A statement released by the site read: “We just don’t have enough money or writers to keep Hayibo meeting the standards you’ve come to expect.
“Our advertising team has been working incredibly hard, but corporate South Africa is still a little too suspicious of satire to reach for its checkbook quickly and regularly. We’re deeply grateful to the ad sales team, who invested so wholeheartedly in Hayibo.”
This time the shutdown is permanent as the site goes on to explain that even if a “sugar daddy” were to offer funding, the decision is final.
The statement hints funding may not be the only problem facing the site: “Our demographic is apparently pure gold (you, dear readers, are among the most educated and discerning people in the land), but we are hamstrung by a serious shortage of writers.
“Given more time and money we might have tried to develop a writing team and run Hayibo as a full-time operation, but alas our pockets and our talent pool have now run dry. The three writers who’ve kept breaking the news since August are now pretty much broken themselves.”
Readers need not despair though as there will be a once-off print publication from the Hayibo.com team in 2013.
