Apology to Secretary to Parliament Gengezi Mgidlana

The Citizen apologises to Secretary to Parliament Gengezi Mgidlana for not giving him reasonable time to respond to allegations levelled against him by trade union Nehawu that claimed he had made staff appointments to his office; appointed himself to chair the tender-adjudication committee; and awarded himself a bursary of R30 000.

The allegations by Nehawu against Mgidlana were published in the article Nehawu calls for ‘corrupt’ parliament secretary’s head on May 30 2017.

Parliament thereafter lodged a complaint with the Office of the Press Ombudsman who – in addition to ruling that not enough time had been afforded to Mgidlana to respond – found that the article should have mentioned that the journalist could not obtain comment on the allegations. He said that, in doing so, The Citizen had not exercised proper care and consideration regarding Mgidlana’s reputation. This apology is the result of the above complaint.

The ombudsan, Johan Retief, directed The Citizen to renew its efforts to obtain comments on the matter and to report those comments in the event that Mgidlana or parliament still wished to comment.

Parliament, however, continued to decline any further requests for comment and did not take up any offers of right of reply.

Visit www.presscouncil.org.za for the full finding.