Happy April Fools Day – keep the jokes coming!

April Fools Day sneaks up on me every year, unless a friend or colleague mentions it beforehand. Being in the newspaper industry is especially fun on this day as Caxton colleagues from all over the country share their front page pranks or prank stories on social media.

I’ve been a part of two newspaper pranks in my five years as journalist and both were very amusing and caused quite an uproar in the two communities. The first was at a newspaper in Limpopo where the editor wrote a piece about a new airfield being built on agricultural land outside town (and for a farming community that was a touchy subject) and the other was at Nelspruit Post, where Innibos helped with a prank story about the festival moving to eMalahleni.

During my school years, I was often the victim of pranks, so I grew to be rather sceptical of anything I couldn’t verify on my own. That’s probably why I enjoy clever April Fools Day pranks and stories with unexpected (but realistic) twists. If I can’t predict the ending or only realise at the end that it’s a prank, you get a gold star in my book.

The first prank I heard this morning was on RSG, while driving to work. They’d apparently announced that the Minister of Finance would be replaced once again and the SMSs sent in reaction were quite funny.

I’ve since spent some time working on facebook and the internet and plan to check in regularly today, just to see what else people come up with.

Have you played an April Fools joke on someone? Let me know in the comments section below or comment on our facebook page.