From paper route to professor: How delivering The Witness helped shape Mergan Naidoo’s future

By Shorne Bennie

Delivering The Witness in the early hours of the morning as a teenager helped shape the discipline and determination that would later define the career of one of South Africa’s leading medical professionals.

Professor Mergan Naidoo (60), a member of the Esther Payne Smith Secondary School Class of 1983, began delivering the newspaper to homes in his neighbourhood while he was in Grade 9 to help supplement his family’s income.

One of four children, Naidoo said his parents worked in a shoe factory and every bit of extra money helped support the household.

“We lived in Cochin Circle and I had to secure about 60 homes to qualify for the contract to deliver the newspapers. I managed to get 50 customers and there was a Mr Chetty who gave me some of his customers. That is how I was able to get a batch and begin delivering them throughout the area,” he said.

Each morning a bale of newspapers would arrive at his home at about 4am. From there he would begin his delivery route before heading back to prepare for school.

“I would deliver the papers and then go home to get ready for school. It was safe to walk around at that time and deliver newspapers,” he said.

Naidoo delivered papers from Grade 9 until Grade 11.

One of his fondest memories from those years, he said, was the support he received from residents in the community.

“People were very supportive. Residents would often give me tips and at the end of the year they would give me a Christmas bonus,” he said.

In matric, however, Naidoo made the difficult decision to stop delivering newspapers so he could concentrate fully on his studies.

His father stepped in to take over the early morning deliveries — ensuring the income that had helped support the household could continue while Naidoo focused on school.

The sacrifice paid off.

Naidoo finished among the top 10 pupils in his matric class, opening the door to bursaries that enabled him to pursue further studies.

“I am very grateful to the Willowton Group and the Moosa’s Group for the bursaries they awarded me, which gave me the opportunity to pursue my studies,” he said.

Today, Naidoo is a Full Professor and Head of Clinical Unit in the Discipline of Family Medicine at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and Wentworth Hospital.

He holds multiple qualifications, including MBChB, M.Fam.Med, FCFP, MSc (Sports Medicine), Dip HIV Man, DipPEC, MHPE (Keele) and a PhD.

Naidoo serves as President of the South African Medical Association for the 2025–2026 term — a journey that began decades ago with a bicycle, a stack of newspapers and a determination to succeed.