The war of words between South Africa’s Department of Communications (DoC) and the Sunday Times has intensified again after a spokesperson slammed the paper for distorting information.
DoC spokesperson Wisani Ngobeni addressed members of the press this morning in reaction to further claims made by the newspaper yesterday that communications minister Dina Pule was lying regarding her relationship with Phosane Mngqibisa and had spent public money on an overseas trip together.
Ngobeni said: “It worrying that the Sunday Times appears determined to exploit the principled position of the department and minister Pule by continuing to willfully mislead, manipulate facts and distort information in their passionate public crusade against minister Pule and the department.
“The department will not respond to these issues through the media but through legitimate processes in Parliament and the Public Protector.”
Pule is already the subject of a police investigation, an inquiry by parliament’s ethics committee and another by the Public Protector.
At the centre of the original allegations is her and her alleged boyfriend’s involvement in Cape Town’s ICT Indaba last year and the appropriation of sponsorship money.
