Allister Haddon Sparks (10 March 1933 – 19 September 2016) was a South African writer, journalist, and political commentator.

He was the editor of The Rand Daily Mail when it broke Muldergate, the story of how the apartheid government secretly funded information projects.

[1][5] He followed his position as an editor by working as a correspondent with top-level newspapers, including The Washington Post', The Observer (UK), and NRC Handelsblad in the Netherlands.

Sparks founded the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism in South Africa and was its executive director from 1992 to 1997.

According to MISA, It was during his tenure at the Rand Daily Mail in the late 1970s that Allister distinguished himself as a journalist of great valour and strength, willing to stick his neck out for a story even though it might have reached into the deep echelons of government.He was the first South African journalist to receive the award.