Sunday Times to return awards for false news reports

The Sunday Times says it will return the awards and prize money it received for articles it ran about the Cato Manor “death squad”, the Sars “rogue unit” and Zimbabwean extraditions.

This was announced by the newspaper’s editor, Bongani Siqoko, in an op-ed carried in today’s edition entitled ‘We got it wrong and for that we apologise’.

“I believe it is only just and fitting for us to humbly reconsider our decision to accept such prestigious awards,” Siqoko wrote. “Accepting such accolades will be a negation of a higher journalistic ideal. It is for this reason we will be returning all the awards and the prize money.”

In a report on EWN, it was also revealed that the Sunday Times is parting company with senior reporters Mzilikazi Wa Afrika and Stephan Hofstatter. The two reporters were members of the paper’s investigative reporting group who involved in several stories – including the articles about the Sars ‘rogue unit – which were later discredited as false.

The paper’s legal editor, Suzan Smuts, revealed to EWN that while neither Afrika nor Hofstatter have been fired, the pair have left the Sunday Times of their own accord.

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