Investigative newspaper Mail & Guardian (M&G) is hitting back at a complaint lodged against it by ICT businessman Robert Gumede.
Gumede, who is chairman and founder of JSE-listed outsourcing company Gijima, has lodged a complaint with the Press Ombudsman on the back of questions the publication had sent him. Gumede also has close ties with the ruling ANC party.
The questions were related to two payments of R50 000, made by him in 2004, using his wife's bank account. The publication had asked Gumede what the purpose of these payments was, and had given him until close of business yesterday to respond.
Gumede's complaint to the press ombudsman alleges he is the victim of a “biased and vindictive campaign”. He has asked the ombud to investigate payments made to M&G journalist Sam Sole by his former business partner, Johan Sterenborg, in 2001.
The businessman alleges Sole wrote “disparaging” articles about him after he received payments. Gumede also wants Sole and fellow investigative journalist Adrian Basson to agree to a forensic audit of their bank accounts to determine if they have received other money from Sterenborg.
Gumede and Sterenborg have been locked in a legal battle for several years, after Sterenborg sold him Applied Card Technologies (ACT), in 2001, for more than R30 million. Gumede alleges ACT was insolvent when he bought it, and that Sterenborg still owes him R45 million.
On his Web site, Gumede says he resurrected ACT like a “phoenix from the ashes” and it then became “the only black-owned smart card company that continues to grow and prosper without constraint”.
Defamatory
M&G editor Nic Dawes says Gumede's complaint, which contains defamatory allegations against the paper and Sole, was widely circulated to several media organisations.
Dawes says, while Gumede has the right to complain about the newspaper, he does not have the right to defame it. He adds the SABC did not provide the publication with sufficient time to reply to the allegations in the news bulletin.
The M&G is considering counteraction against Gumede for his statements, says Dawes. He also says a complaint might be lodged against the SABC with the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of SA.
Dawes wants Gumede to apologise for the remarks he considers to be defamatory, but has not ruled out the possibility of going to court. “I prefer to win the battle of public opinion in the open, rather than go to court.”
Sole says he is “trying to get the paper out” and will then calmly consider a way forward.
Several brushes
Gumede's complaint to the ombud is not the first run-in the businessman has had with the newspaper. In January, the M&G was forced to publish an apology drafted by the Appeals Panel of the Press Council.
The M&G's statement says Basson had erred in allegations against Gumede contained in two stories that were published in October and November 2008.
The headline of the first was “Major ANC donor in graft probe”, while the second was “Gumede not off the hook”. Gumede had also objected to a poster that read “Key Zuma funder in graft probe”.
In addition, the paper had to publish an apology last month, says Gumede's statement, after “defamatory” articles.
SABC spokesman Kaizer Kganyago did not respond to a voicemail message seeking comment from the broadcaster. Gumede was also not immediately available to comment on the M&G's statements.
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