Former News Editor, Zeldré Strauss Swanepoel
I Joined PE Express in 2007, and it was not an easy start relocating from the Western Cape to a city I did not know.
However, I quickly found my feet and met readers and stakeholders who have left an indelible mark and shaped me on my journey from a young reporter to news editor. At the time PE Express was split into three different editions, namely Northern Edition, Metro Edition and Southern Edition.
I have immense pride in this brand, which has managed to thrive in an environment where not many community newspapers survive.
Through tough economic times, and the COVID-19 pandemic, we managed to pull through and remained being a free sheet and were even able to increase distribution.
Credit for the success of PE Express must be given to the entire team behind the brand, the editorial team, the advertising and marketing team, and of course, the readers who never fail to let us know how much they enjoy reading our paper.
Even after all these years, there is always joy in hearing how much a reader loved seeing their child or themselves in the newspaper, or how a certain story touched their heart.
With the advent of the digital age, our newspaper has become available on an online platform too, and we are able to reach even more people, and those outside our distribution areas.
One thing that stands out about the team behind PE Express is that they are not afraid to try new things.
We have pioneered a much loved PE Express Christmas Baby competition, a very popular PE Express Matric Dance competition, we have published a recipe book and have had countless giveaways and charity drives.
See some of these highlights captured in images on pages 14 and 15.
Happy 40th birthday, PE Express!
