Malala is an award-winning author, political commentator, newspaper columnist and television host. He writes regular columns for Bloomberg internationally, and for the Financial Mail and TimesLive in SA. Malala’s work has been published in the Financial Times, Washington Post, The Guardian, Times of London, and many others. He is a political analyst for Lefika Securities.

In 2023, The Economist magazine said he is “perhaps the country’s most astute political commentator”.

Malala was the founding editor of the newspaper ThisDay (South Africa). Between 2007 and 2012 he was general manager of TimesMedia’s [now Arena Holdings] stable of 44 magazines. He was also general manager of The Sowetan and Sunday World newspapers.

Justice Malala Books

Malala is the author of four books. The latest, The Plot To Save South Africa: The Week Mandela Averted Civil War and Forged a New Nation, was published in Canada, the UK, the USA, and South Africa in 2023. It reached number one on the SA best-seller list in April 2023. It was a finalist for the Sunday Times Alan Paton non-fiction book award 2024. It was hailed as “gripping and important” by The Guardian (UK), “trenchant” by Foreign Affairs (USA), “masterful, compelling, fast-moving” by The Conversation (Africa), while the Financial Times (UK) said it “wonderfully captures the spirit of the time”.

Malala lives in New York City and Cape Town.