The Department of Communications (DOC) this morning hit back at the Sunday Times, accusing it of distorting information and using suspect documentation in a bid to convict minister Dina Pule in the public eye.
The department called the press conference at 3pm yesterday afternoon, after the Sunday Times said it had evidence that Pule lied about her relationship with Phosane Mngqibisa and that she had travelled with him at taxpayers' expense.
Reading a prepared statement, spokesman Wisani Ngobeni said the department has noted with concern the continuous peddling of slander and rumours in a bid to convict Pule in the public eye.
"It is worrying that the Sunday Times appears determined to exploit the principled position of the department and minister Pule by continuing to willfully mislead, manipulate facts and distort information in their passionate public crusade against minister Pule and the department. The department will not respond to these issues through the media but through legitimate processes in Parliament and the Public Protector."
The minister is this week appearing before the Parliamentary Ethics Committee to answer questions as to whether she has a relationship with Mngqibisa and if she has benefited from it. At the same time, the Public Protector is conducting its own investigation.
Mngqibisa allegedly benefited from last year's ICT Indaba after Pule allegedly foisted him on the organisers. The Sunday Times previously alleged that millions or rands, sponsored by telecoms companies for the inaugural ICT Indaba, had been misused.
A previous independent probe cleared Pule and Mngqibisa of any wrongdoing related to the indaba, and could also not find any evidence that the two were romantically linked.
Ngobeni says there is nothing new in the allegations in yesterday's paper, and said Pule could not answer each allegation in public because she was currently involved in the Parliamentary process.
Questionable proof
The Sunday Times relied on documents that the department does not have in its possession and it has no idea how the paper came into the possession of documents that allegedly show the minister is involved with Mngqibisa and he has accompanied her on international trips at taxpayers' expense.
The newspaper claims it has seen a document in which Pule listed Mngqibisa as her official "companion", a term in the official ministerial handbook that refers to family, spouses or long-term romantic partners whose travel expenses may be covered by the state.
In addition, it says the new documents raise questions about Mngqibisa's claims that he paid for his own expenses:
o Pule and Mngqibisa left on the same flight to the US on 31 August 2009 with the DOC paying R91 854 for his ticket.
o Pule and her group spent three nights at the Holiday Inn Parque Fundidora at a cost of R20 000, with only three rooms booked between the four of them.
Ngobeni says none of the allegations will stick. He says in the paper's 10-month campaign against the minister and the department, it has failed to link either Pule or the DOC to any wrongdoing. He adds that the auditor-general had probed the ICT Indaba, and found no wrongdoing on the part of the department.
The newspaper adds that Mngqibisa refused to answer questions on the matter, saying it would be "extremely irregular for me to participate in what appears to be a parallel inquiry outside the parliamentary processes".
Hitting back
On Friday, the DOC said in a statement that Pule had lodged a formal complaint with the Press Ombudsman to investigate what she calls defamatory articles written about her in the Sunday Times.
The ministry's response follows a report in the newspaper on 5 May, stating 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 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.
Department spokesperson, Siqa Qosa, said the minister has not apologised to the Sunday Times, and has no intention to do so. "The individuals mentioned by the Sunday Times do not represent Pule.The Sunday Times even went further to allege that one of the individuals concerned is Pule's lawyer. This is false."
He added that Sunday Times editors foolishly published the story without even checking the facts. "Shockingly, the Sunday Times reported about this without even seeking a response from Pule on the specific allegations."
The paper yesterday published what it called proof, in the form of an invoice addressed to Pule for the use of the boardroom that it said was where a meeting during which she was set to apologise was meant to take place.
Bokwa was also asked whether Pule was calling him a liar when she denied having tasked him with setting up a meeting. He is quoted as saying that "this" went to the heart of the ethics of his profession, but would not comment further.
The Sunday Times was not present at this morning's press conference.
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