Johannesburg, 12 Apr 2007
In a letter to the Sunday Independent newspaper, the State IT Agency's (SITA) outgoing CEO Mavuso Msimang accuses the media of paranoia and knee-jerk reactions.
The letter followed an article published on the front page of the paper earlier this month, under the headline "State agency treats officials to five-star Cape freebie".
It alleged 75 senior government officials were treated to "a fully-paid luxury weekend at one of Cape Town's most expensive hotels". The reason for the weekend, said Sunday Independent, was for SITA to say thank you to its customers.
Quoting opposition spokespeople and political commentators, the article questioned the cost of the event, its appropriateness and the values of the government officials who attended, given the country's widespread poverty.
Get the facts right
In response to the article, Msimang declared himself to "never cease to be amazed by the knee-jerk and often paranoid reaction of certain sections of the media - and their favourite pick of opposition politicians".
Msimang explained the state-owned entity was well within its rights to host such an event, given that it is unsubsidised by government and is required to compete with the private sector for a significant portion of its revenue.
Accordingly, the agency decided to treat its customers to a weekend to show its appreciation for their support.
As for the cost of the trip, Msimang says the accommodation was secured at "delightfully" discounted rates on the back of a conference of national and international ICT leaders booked at the same venue later this year.
He also noted that if the organisation had been asked, it would have revealed its total marketing budget is 0.5% of its annual revenue, including the hospitality component, which is 0.003% of revenue.
Msimang declined to comment further on the matter yesterday, while Sunday Independent editor Jovial Rantao was unavailable.
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