Man accused of being behind Goolam demands apology from Sisulu and Independent Media

The man accused of being behind the Goolam social media account, known for criticising politicians, has demanded an apology from Independent Media and African National Congress (ANC) veteran Lindiwe Sisulu.

Independent Media Group, which has been investigating the controversial account, held a media briefing with Sisulu in Cape Town on Monday where it claimed that Mohammed Yacoob Vawda was behind the @Goolammv account on X (formerly Twitter).

Independent Media didn’t provide any evidence to back up its claims.

Claims about Goolam social media account

“We can reveal the identity of the person behind the @goolammv [account]. The person behind this account is Mohammed Yacoob Vawda,” said Independent Media’s deputy editorial and content director Mazwi Xaba.

Sisulu also made claims about Goolam during the media briefing but never mentioned Vawda by name.

“For some time, we tried to track Goolam down and we found that the person who was fronting for Goolam was in the Presidency and a woman dealing with communication. We didn’t get any further that that and I regretted that our media has got to the point where it is now,” Sisulu alleged.

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Lecturer refutes Goolam allegations

Vawda, a lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and a part-time comedian, through his lawyer Rupert Candy Attorneys, denied that he is behind the Goolam handle on X.

“Our client is not behind the @goolammv account on X. He is neither affiliated with, nor knows the individual behind that account. Our client last used his X account (when it was still Twitter) seven years ago, on 12 December 2017.

“Our client has suffered harm in the form of publications on social media calling upon the University of KwaZulu-Natal to explain their affiliation with a ‘racist’, anonymous messages telling our client to ‘go back to India’, and publications of our client’s employment address being shared. … These attacks on our client were directly incited by your press conference and related publications,” Candy said.

The lawyers said Vawda and his family have received multiple death threats and have moved to a secure location as a result of Independent Media and Sisulu’s “wrongful conduct”.

“The reasonable reader/viewer of ordinary intelligence would understand the published statements against our client to mean that he associates himself with racists and that he is in cahoots with political parties for the purpose of spreading disinformation. These statements lower our client in the estimation of right-thinking persons generally and are therefore defamatory,” Candy added.

Demand for apology from Independent Media and Sisulu

Candy said Vawda has demanded an apology from Independent Media and Sisulu on various print publications, as well as a live press conference on Wednesday.

“The live press conference must urgently be held wherein each of the relevant speakers who appeared at [Monday’s] press conference must publicly retract and apologise for the false statements made concerning our client.

“We further demand that the abovementioned retractions, apologies and live broadcast of the press conference be published before close of business on 17 July 2024 failing which our instructions are to institute urgent application proceedings against you in the High Court,” Candy said.

The Citizen has contacted Independent Media, Xaba and Sisulu’s advisor for comment. This will be added once received.

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