Andreij Horn, head of 24.com, announced that the company has accepted the resignation of Verashni Pillay from her position as editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post SA.

Her resignation followed immediately on the release earlier today of the findings of the press ombudsman that a blog published on the site was “malicious” and “discriminatory”.

Horn said editorial control over the site has been reassigned: “With immediate effect, Ferial Haffajee, The Huffington Post SA’s editor-at-large, and Pieter du Toit, the site’s deputy editor, will take over the editorial management of the site until we have appointed a new editor. We have the utmost faith in their ability to lead the site through both the changes we are making to address the internal issues that made this situation possible in the first place, and the impact it had on society at large, the company, and its staff.”

Pillay said: “I respect the office of the press ombudsman and have decided to tender my resignation. Thank you to Media24 for this opportunity and all the best to the team at HuffPost SA going forward.”