CC image courtesy of GovernmentZA on Flickr.
South Africa’s Communication Workers Union (CWU) has said it is “appalled” by the Sunday Times’ reporting of the controversy surrounding communications minister Dina Pule.
Union president Cecil Mokgantsho said in a statement the paper should not allow itself to be used by politicians and opposition parties to report “twisted or screwed news”.
Mokgantsho said the CWU “in general is appalled by Sunday Times newspaper editor and its investigative journalists in their tabloid reporting towards the Minister of Communications, comrade Dina Pule.”
HumanIPO reported earlier this week the Press Ombudsman had agreed to investigate the Department of Communications’ (DoC) complaint against paper, having originally accused Pule’s spin doctor, Wisani Ngobeni, of reaching “illogical conclusions” and using the complaints system for political gain.
Pule has described the Sunday Times reporting about her as a “smear campaign”.
“CWU found it scandalous to see how newspaper editors could connive with politicians, business associates and opposition parties to leak information about Comrade Dina Pule,” said Mokgantsho.
He called on journalists and the editor at the Sunday Times to “learn from brave men and women who stood a test of time during the apartheid regime, e.g. Ruth First who was an outstanding journo and defied the apartheid regime in that time”.
Mokgantsho also appealed to everyone to allow the investigation of the reporting to proceed unhindered.
“CWU would like to appeal to all people including journalists and its editors to allow processes that are in place to investigate all this things that are said about Comrade Pule. And we know that the findings against Comrade Pule will be in the public domain therefore we urge Sunday Times editor and its journalists to be patient.”
