Jani Allan

Short Biography

Jani Allan (born 11 September 1952) is a South African author and columnist. She became well known as a columnist for the centrist newspaper, the Sunday Times where she worked between 1980 and 1989 publishing columns such as Just Jani, Jani Allan's Week and Face to Face. At the height of her fame, her newspaper commissioned a Gallup poll in 1987 to find "the most admired person in South Africa", she came first. She later became the subject of press interest over the nature of her relationship with an interview subject, the late Eugène Terre'Blanche. Allan strongly denied the affair allegations and in 1989, fled to London after her apartment was bombed. In 1992, she filed an unsuccessful libel suit against the broadcaster Channel 4. She returned to South Africa in 1996, publishing a web column and presenting a radio show on Cape Talk. Allan returned to the media frame in 2013, reinventing herself as a restaurant diarist and animal rights advocate. In 2014, she made headlines around the world after publishing an open letter to accused murderer Oscar Pistorius. Jacana Media published Allan's memoirs, Jani Confidential on 16 March 2015. Allan is currently a regular columnist at BizNews.