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Muslim Views journalists Yaseen Bardien and Mahmood Sanglay won the inaugural FCJ Story of the Year award for their Zamzam investigation, which combined laboratory testing, expert analysis and supply-chain reporting across South Africa.
By MUSLIM VIEWS REPORTERS
Muslim Views journalists Yaseen Bardien and Mahmood Sanglay have won the inaugural Story of the Year award at the AVBOB Forum of Community Journalists (FCJ) Excellence Awards on August 21 in Centurion.
The award was in recognition of their investigation that used laboratory science, expert scrutiny and supply-chain reporting to test whether water sold in South Africa as sacred Zamzam was authentic.
The competition drew just over 600 entries across 17 categories, assessed by a panel of 22 judges. Bardien and Sanglay were among ten finalists for Story of the Year.
Published jointly by Muslim Views and GroundUp in June 2025, the investigation began in 2022 after questions arose about the abundance of commercially sold Zamzam in South Africa despite the Saudi Kingdom prohibiting its commercial export.
Zamzam comes from a single well in Makkah and carries profound religious significance for Muslims worldwide.
The investigation moved beyond packaging, anecdotes and claims by suppliers. Reporters collected 19 samples sold as Zamzam from retailers in the Western Cape, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal and compared them with five control samples obtained from the Saudi Kingdom. Testing was conducted at a laboratory accredited by the South African National Accreditation System (SANAS).
The samples were analysed for calcium, chloride, fluoride, magnesium, potassium, sulphates and sodium. The results showed that samples bought in Durban and Gauteng were not significantly different from the Saudi controls, while Western Cape samples differed significantly.
Scientific scrutiny was central to the investigation’s credibility. Expert geohydrologists and specialists were consulted to interpret the results and test whether geological or treatment-related factors could plausibly explain the differences. The investigation also examined labelling compliance and the supply chain rather than treating laboratory results in isolation.
The investigation also received grant support from the Southern Africa Accountability Journalism Project (SA | AJP), an initiative of the Henry Nxumalo Foundation supporting investigative journalism in the region. The Foundation favours investigations that serve the public interest, uncover information that might otherwise remain hidden, are in-depth and investigative, and employ innovative techniques or approaches. Its 2024/25 annual report specifically records “the sale of fake holy water from Mecca” among the investigations selected for SA | AJP funding.
That multidisciplinary approach was especially important because Zamzam is not simply another premium bottled water. It occupies a revered place in Islamic faith and practice. A false claim of authenticity therefore raises questions extending beyond ordinary consumer deception to religious trust, public health and the integrity of a sacred commodity.
The investigation also found that labels on locally purchased bottles did not comply with South African requirements. In the Western Cape, the identified distributor refused to disclose his Saudi supplier, despite providing a redacted Maersk waybill as evidence that the product had been imported from the Kingdom. Muslim Views has subsequently pursued access to relevant shipping records through the Promotion of Access to Information Act.
The investigation appears to be highly unusual internationally, although a 2011 BBC investigation commissioned tests on Zamzam-labelled water sold in the UK and also tested samples obtained from Makkah.
What distinguishes the Muslim Views–GroundUp investigation is its systematic South African authenticity comparison: multiple retail samples from three provinces were tested against five Saudi control samples, with the chemical profiles used to assess whether the locally sold water plausibly came from the same source. No other news investigation was found using this same national retail-sampling and control-comparison methodology. The investigation can therefore reasonably be described as pioneering. Also, establishing whether consumers receive what they are promised is therefore relevant not only to South African Muslims but to the global Ummah.
FCJ convening judge, Dr André Gouws, said the strongest entries demonstrated good sourcing, careful verification, balanced reporting and clear writing, while also recognising journalists who pursued stories over extended periods. Those qualities closely mirror a probe that developed over several years and combined field reporting, laboratory evidence, specialist interpretation, regulatory scrutiny and repeated attempts to obtain answers from those in the supply chain.
The award also places the investigation within the broader role of community journalism in holding institutions and businesses accountable.
AVBOB CEO Eugene Strauss said: “Strong communities are built on accountability, trust and access to reliable information.” He said communities depended on journalism to remain informed about issues affecting their daily lives and to have their voices represented in public conversations.
The significance of the achievement is heightened by the fact that Story of the Year was introduced as a completely new category in the FCJ competition. Bardien and Sanglay are therefore the inaugural recipients of the award. The FCJ said the work entered across its writing and photography categories demonstrated the vibrancy and diversity of community journalism in South Africa.
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For Muslim Views, the award affirms a central principle of public-interest journalism: questions arising within a community deserve the same evidential rigour as any major national investigation. When the subject touches faith, health and consumer trust simultaneously, that responsibility becomes even greater.
The Zamzam investigation is ongoing, with the reporting now focusing on another aspect of the story.
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