Former Apartheid-era KwaZulu homeland chief minister, Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, is reputed to have raked in millions of rands, suing the mainstream press.
Threats of litigation against the present-day media continues unabated, rightfully or wrongfully.
Just last Monday 12 November the so-called vanguard of the working class, the South African Communist Party (SACP), hogged the headlines for all the wrong reasons.
The VBS Mutual Bank great bank heist scandal continued to become the monkey on the backs of politicians from across the spectrum.
The weekend mainstream press published damning allegations against the SACP, with sensational revelations that the party of the late Chris Hani and Joe Slovo, had indirectly accepted a
donation from the embattled bank.
SACP strongman Solly Mapaila was interviewed on a talk radio programme, regarding the alleged donation, in the process threatening to sue a Sunday broadsheet newspaper for publishing a
supposedly defamatory headline.
“VBS BANK PAID MILLIONS FOR SACP” was the disputed headline, across the front page of one of Johannesburg’s best-selling Sunday newspapers.
The newspaper reported that a former executive of VBS Mutual Bank had disclosed that a branch manager was ordered to make a R3-million payment, to fund the national congress of the SACP last year.
During the radio interview, Mapaila said SACP lawyers had instructions to probe the legality of the headline, and the very potential for defamation.
Let there be no doubt that I, Johnny Masilela , cannot claim to be a legal eagle, but matters related to newspaper norms and ethics are close to my heart.
The introduction (first paragraph) flowing from the headline went like this: “A former senior executive of the scandal-ridden VBS Mutual Bank has revealed that a branch manager was ordered to
make a R3 million payment to fund the national congress held by the SA Communist Party (SACP) last year, allegedly in exchange for the party’s silence on the bank’s relationship with the
controversial Gupta family.”
For me reporting that the executive had “revealed” verbally and not in writing, may not be good enough. What if the executive turns around and says he never said these things?
Also, for me the word “allegedly” is good enough for the editor to sleep well in terms of revelations about the Gupta link.
Let me share a secret with you: the media — be it mainstream or community press — goes the extra mile in making sure what ultimately gets on the page is absolutely legal.
For instance, I used to be news editor for a mainstream Johannesburg newspaper, from which one reporter came up with a docket, alleging a prominent businessman had pushed a sex worker from a mobile vehicle.
Our lawyer cautioned us not to publish the story, simply because the sex worker concerned had melted into the jetsam and flotsam streets of Johannesburg’s Hillbrow, failing to appear in court.
With this in mind, we do not just publish stories for the sake of sensation, or otherwise.
— The BEAT
