26 Jan Oxpeckers journalists win international anti-corruption award
Oxpeckers associates Andiswa Matikinca and Tatenda Chitagu win major international award for their exposé on lithium smuggling across Southern Africa’s borders
Tatenda Chitagu (left) and Andiswa Matikinca at the International Anti-Corruption Excellence Award ceremony, in Doha, December 2025. Photo: Supplied
“Combating corruption is a global responsibility that calls for the combined efforts of international organisations and the initiatives of dedicated individuals,” said the patron of the International Anti-Corruption Excellence (ACE) Award ceremony in Doha, Qatar, on December 14 2025.
The Amir of Qatar, His Highness Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, attended the star-studded ceremony where Oxpeckers associates Andiswa Matikinca and Tatenda Chitagu were honoured for their cross-border investigation “On the Trail of Lithium Smugglers in Southern Africa, produced and published by Oxpeckers in April 2025.
The awards, organised and delivered by the Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption Centre supported by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, have over the years shone the light on the work of inspiring anti-corruption champions around the world, encouraging the implementation of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption across five categories.
The Oxpeckers representatives were the joint winners in the Innovation/Investigative Journalism category, alongside Mongabay’s Gloria Pallares Vinyoles from Spain who has led major cross-continental investigations exposing corruption in forest and carbon governance across Central Africa and Latin America. The category honours innovators who have developed effective tools contributing to the fight against corruption, with a focus on celebrating those who expose forms of corruption and their negative impact on communities worldwide.
Sharing the stage were the other 2025 winners: Drago Kos from Slovenia and Obiageli Ezekwesili from Nigeria for the Lifetime or Outstanding Achievement Award; Professor Nikos Passas from Greece and Marianne Camerer from South Africa for the Academic Research and Education Award; Marr Nyang from The Gambia and Matiullah Wesa from Afghanistan for the Youth Creativity and Engagement Award.
Andiswa Matikinca at the Eastern Cape Regional Vodacom Journalist of the Year Awards in November 2025. Photo: Supplied
Andiswa Matikinca hands Tatenda Chitagu his Vodacom Journalist of the Year Award in Doha, Qatar. Photo: Supplied
Corruption busters
Just one month before the ACE Awards, the Oxpeckers team also received the Vodacom Journalist of The Year Regional Award for the lithium smuggling investigation.
“This is what we do at Oxpeckers Investigative Environmental Journalism: continuously support young environmental journalists so that they can stand on the stage alongside the world’s corruption busters,” said proud Oxpeckers founding director Fiona Macleod.
Reflecting on the process that went into the investigation, Chitagu said it was one of the most complex stories he has worked on. “It really was risky, hence I had to go undercover. But this did not minimise the risk – imagine trying to infiltrate a smuggling cartel which has resources and mafia and state security agents at its disposal.
“If anything had gone awry, I could have gone into deep trouble,” he said.
Chitagu, who recently became an Oxpeckers associate, is an alumni of the Oxpeckers Training and Professional Support Programme supported by the FOJO Media Institute. Certain that the awards will propel his career as a journalist, Chitagu said, “It’s one thing to write about something, and another to realise that there are people who notice your work as a journalist and appreciate it.”
Full circle
For Matikinca, winning the ACE award was a full-circle moment since she joined Oxpeckers as a recent graduate in 2018 to become an intern for the #MineAlert platform, the region’s trusted open-data programme on extractives activities. She went on to become #MineAlert’s project manager and in January 2019 travelled to Dakar, Senegal, to attend the Publish What You Pay global assembly.
The global assembly brought together civil society coalitions and stakeholders from around the world to network, and to share their stories and successes around transparency and accountability in the extractives sector. This was where Matikinca first met fellow 2025 ACE Award laureate Obiageli Ezekwesili, Nigeria’s former federal minister of solid minerals and education, and co-founder and founding director of Transparency International.
This moment exemplifies Matikinca’s consistency and dedication to the work of transparency and accountability in the extractives sector.
Testament to the work of anti-corruption not being limited to age or gender, Matikinca said: “It is a great honour and privilege to be part of this year’s cohort alongside people who have experience spanning over 30 years in the fight to dismantle corruption across different sectors, when I have only been doing this work for just seven years and counting.”
Building on the momentum from the ACE Award, Matikinca said she aims to expand her investigative capacity by embarking on more collaborative cross-border reporting on corruption in natural resource governance, particularly in Southern Africa, and also working together with laureates from this year and previous years, advancing her work.