Ndalo Media will officially shut down on January 31 2019, company owner Khanyi Dhlomo told her employees on Wednesday.

The media company that owns Destiny, Destiny Men and Elle magazines, among others, has been experiencing cash flow issues, even failing to cover certain operational costs in the past few months.

Sowetan reported yesterday, that the company had not paid staff salaries for the month of November.

Dhlomo promised that staff would get paid on December 7 instead of November 25, however, they were informed on December 6 that the date for payments would be pushed further.

Freelancers were also not paid.

On Wednesday, the media mogul confirmed everyone’s worst fears and announced that the company would be shutting down.

“Given just where we are and the various conversations we’ve had, I’ve decided to close down this company effective as of the 31st of January next year [2019],” Dhlomo was heard saying in an audio recording provided to Sowetan by a source.

Sunday World reported in November that Ndalo Media faced liquidation over a R13-million debt allegedly owed to its printers accumulated between 2016 and 2018.

The report said that CTP Printers hauled Ndalo Media to the South Gauteng High Court over the failure to meet its payment obligations.

During this week’s meeting, Dhlomo made it clear to her staff that there was no alternative but to close shop at the end of January.

“Today is going to be the day one of notice, so this is the proposed notice of redundancy which each person in this company is going to get,” said Dhlomo referring to a document which was being handed to staff.

“And what we’ll do is allow everyone 30 days which will take us to about the 17th of January to look at this, go through it. If you have thoughts and ideas about how this process could be handled you have the next 30 days or so to think about,” she told the staff.

Dhlomo also told staff that ensuring that all salaries are paid was her top priority, although she could not provide exact payment dates at the time.

“My priority is to sort that [salaries] out to ensure that you are all taken care of and I will update you daily on that or as regularly as I can,” she said adding that the staff could call her for any update.

She told staff that the magazine issues that had been sent to the printers would be printed although they wouldn’t go out on time.

“Because whatever revenues we finalise, which I’m hoping can still be finalised, I would like prioritise salaries.”

“This is not liquidation; it’s an orderly voluntary wind down of the business, she said, adding that she hoped to avoid a situation where the company would be forced to liquidate.

The websites will continue operating until 31 March 2019.