Founded in 1981, The Sowetan emerged from the ashes of the banned Post Transvaal newspaper, with its editorial staff migrating from The World newspaper . The idea to create The Sowetan sparked when The Post faced a prolonged strike that nearly led to bankruptcy, prompting a sale of its assets to Caxtons, who then secured a contract to print the newspaper . The name "The Sowetan" was chosen from several registered titles as a backup, and it was initially a weekly Saturday and Sunday paper, though the Sunday edition was later closed due to financial viability issues . The Sowetan is currently owned by Arena Holdings (formerly Tiso Blackstar Group, Avusa, and Times Media Group) . The Sowetan is an English-language daily newspaper based in Johannesburg, South Africa . It covers a wide range of news, including general news, sports, entertainment, and opinion pieces . The newspaper is known for its left-leaning editorial tone and has a significant readership across South Africa . One interesting fact: The Sowetan was initially perceived by some as only covering news from Soweto, which led to slow initial sales. However, it was intended from the beginning to be a nationwide newspaper, and it took nearly two years for its readership to grow and sales to soar, eventually becoming one of the largest national newspapers in South Africa .