The three Sunday Times journalists accused by South African communications minister Dina Pule of acting on personal motives and “blackmailing” her have hit back in print.
HumanIPO reported last week the editor of the Sunday Times, Phylicia Oppelt, had made a statement defending her reporters after Pule had held a press conference claiming the repeated stories containing allegations of corruption against her were part of a deliberate “smear campaign”.
Writing in yesterday’s edition, the three reporters – Stephan Hofstatter, Rob Rose and Mzilikazi wa Afrika – said: “The story she told was an equal mix of conspiracy theory and fiction.
“There was an unrequited love interest (a relative of journalist Mzilikazi wa Afrika who was, the minister’s story went, spurned by Pule); intercepted or “overheard” conversations of plots to plant spies in Pule’s office; and secret meetings set up by powerful mandarins representing shadowy business interests intent on toppling the president.”
The allegations made against Pule by the Sunday Times centre around her reported boyfriend, Phosane Mngqibisa, and his apparent hand in appointments made at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC).
An investigation by the South African public protector Thuli Madonsela into Pule’s conduct concerning missing sponsorship money for the ICT Indaba last year is expected to be completed this week.
