Former Mail & Guardian editor-in-chief, Verashni Pillay has been hired as editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post South Africa.

Huffington Post announced earlier in September that it would be launching the 17th edition of its publication in South Africa on 7th November.

“Africa is an important place in the world, but I would say that the advertising and media markets would characterise it in the emerging phase, and not quite robust,” Huffington Post chief executive officer, Jared Grusd, told CNBC following the announcement.

Pillay’s replacement is yet to be announced but deputy-editor, Beauregard Tromp will be appointed as acting editor-in-chief in the interim.

“The M&G has benefited greatly from Verashni’s leadership but we now have solid plans and an editorial vision in place,” Tromp said.

Pillay is the second Mail & Guardian editor-in-chief to leave the publication in less than a year.

In May 2015, Chris Roper resigned as the editor of the publication. Pillay took the reigns on 19th October 2015 and helped grow the publication’s digital audience by 30% during her tenure according to the Mail & Guardian.

Huffington Post South Africa forms part of a partnership with established local media house, Media 24. The publication has some 750 000 monthly unique visitors in South Africa, even without a dedicated publication locally.

“Digital is my true passion and when I was offered the job of editor-in-chief of Huffington Post in South Africa it was the perfect opportunity to make way for someone else to come along and take M&G to new heights,” Pillay said in a farewell letter to readers.

We wish Pillay the best of luck at Huffington Post and Beauregard Tromp strength in his time as acting editor-in-chief at Mail & Guardian.

[Source – Mail & Guardian][Image – CC BY 2.0 dulnan]