The Sunday Times has hit back at communications minister Dina Pule following an "unusual" press conference in which the minister slammed the newspaper's series of accusations against her, accusing the media house of complicity in a bribery plot.
"We find it unfortunate that rather than dealing with the essence of the claims against her, she proceeds to attack the messenger of the stories. We also find it disturbing that the Minister would use her office to call an "important" press conference, as she did today, to launch a personal attack on both the Sunday Times and its journalists," said the Sunday Times editor, Phylicia Oppelt, in a statement today.
Oppelt says the "numerous" articles that have been featured in the newspaper about Pule over the past year have been in the public interest, "with no other motivation in mind". If Pule has any evidence to the contrary, she says, the newspaper invites the minister to reveal it, "so we can deal with it appropriately".
Pule this morning levelled allegations against the Sunday Times and three of its journalists, saying the "serious and damaging" allegations published against her 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. She alleged the journalists have close ties with certain, unnamed business people who are "desperate" to get a piece of the digital migration pie.
Oppelt says Pule continues to avoid clarifying the key issue - the nature of her relationship with Phosane Mngqibisa, who was then paid R6-million by the organisers of the ICT Indaba.
"She has threatened to both sue and report the newspaper to the Press Ombudsman. Even though our stories have been published for the past 10 months, she has done neither. When Mngqibisa reported the Sunday Times to the Ombudsman last year, his complaint was dismissed. The Ombudsman said that 'in light of their silence about the nature of their relationship, the newspaper cannot be blamed for thinking that the facts pointed to a personal one'."
The Sunday Times concludes by urging Pule to provide the Sunday Times and the public with proof to substantiate the allegations she made today. "If she cannot, she should do the right thing and publicly apologise."
Share