Just when we thought it was safe to pack those conspiracy theories away, our dear communications minister, Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, sets the tongues wagging again by picking her favourite - sorry, by identifying key - journalists to attend an informal briefing with her.
The briefing, which took place last week, was apparently arranged by her ministry in order for Matsepe-Casaburri to meet up with certain quarters of the Fourth Estate in an informal and relaxed environment.
According to her spokesman, Matsepe-Casaburri herself identified the people she wanted to invite and it was "only a select, core group of journalists".
I am not attempting to cast doubt on the intentions or motivations of my fellow professionals. For that matter, I am mostly unaware of which journalists were even invited, although I do know some of the publications that were not.
I also know that I, and some of the others who were not deemed select enough by Matsepe-Casaburri, would certainly have enjoyed the opportunity to meet our nemesis in an unofficial environment, had we been asked to attend, which means I must take issue with the minister`s intentions.
What kind of message does she send to the industry when she invites only certain members of the press corps to such a meeting, particularly when it is obvious that she has snubbed some of the more widely read dailies and weeklies.
Both ITWeb and the Mail & Guardian - publications that have been extremely critical of her in recent months - were excluded from her little soiree, suggesting she does not take kindly to criticism.
Maybe she was nervous of us, as apparently the get-together was held at her private residence, and she may well not have wanted those of us who are critical of the mess she has made of the telecoms industry to know exactly where she lives.
Both ITWeb and the Mail & Guardian - publications that have been extremely critical of her in recent months - were excluded from her little soiree, suggesting she does not take kindly to criticism.
Rodney Weidemann, telecoms editor, ITWeb
Or perhaps she simply doesn`t like the fact that we tell the truth.
Either way, I do know that even her spokesman was unhappy about the fact that she had selected only a few specific reporters to attend, saying she was worried that one of the journalists that was not invited would write a scathing article about the minister, based on this.
Well, she was right, here it is in all its glory.
And although I do realise this means that I`ll be blacklisted from all Matsepe-Casaburri`s parties from now on, at least I know I have something that she appears to lack quite significantly.
It`s a small thing called integrity - look it up in the dictionary, minister, maybe you`ll learn something.
Share