Communications Minister Dina Pule has reportedly sent a lawyer to the Sunday Times in a bid to broker a peace deal after she publicly accused three of the paper's journalists of being part of a blackmail plot against her.
In addition, the paper claims that witnesses are set to confirm that Pule is romantically involved with Phosane Mngqibisa in front of a Parliamentary ethics committee. The committee met on Thursday and Friday to probe whether Pule's had a link with Mngqbisa and whether the parties benefited from the alleged romance.
In this morning's paper, the Sunday Times says that Pule sent her lawyer, Ronnie Bokwa, to apologise after the minister held a press conference. During the media briefing, she alleged that "serious and damaging" allegations published against her by three of Sunday Times journalists were part of a sophisticated ploy to intimidate her into swaying the multibillion-rand tender for set-top boxes in SA's migration to digital television.
Pule alleged the journalists have close ties with business people who are "desperate" to get a piece of the digital migration pie. Last week, the City Press reported that the business man, who Pule declined to name during the conference, was soccer legend Jomo Sono. Sono has denied meeting with the minister.
South Africa is moving to digital television using the European DVB-T2 standard, which will require about 11 million homes to buy set-top boxes to convert the signal for viewing on analogue television. The state is set to subsidise about 70% of the cost of the box, and the aerial, for around five million homes.
Although the department last year issued a request for proposals for what will be a multibillion-rand deal to make subsidised boxes, it has yet to be awarded. Several issues have held up SA's migration to digital television, including a court wrangle between the department and etv over who handles the controls in the boxes, which will prevent grey imports as signals from Sentech will be decrypted at the decoder.
In addition, in a separate story, the Sunday Times says that the ethics hearings have been extended after Pule faced 17 hours of "grilling" and more witnesses will be called to testify. It says these witnesses will confirm the alleged romance between Mngqibisa and Pule.
Mngqibisawas allegedly paid R6 million by the organisers of the ICT Indaba and reportedly "got his friends and relatives onto the boards of the Post Office, Sentech, the Universal Services and Access Agency, and the SABC with the full knowledge of Pule".
The Sunday Times notes that Pule would not comment on the its information regarding additional witnesses as this was linked to the hearing. It notes that Pule also did not meet with it, failing to arrive for two meetings, after initially sending her lawyer to "broker an armistice".
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