Zondo commission accused of protecting journalists paid by Bosasa

The failure of the Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture to ask former Bosasa COO Angelo Agrizzi to name the three journalists he alleged were paid to write favourable stories about the controversial company has been called into question on social media.

The Citizen reported earlier on Thursday that Agrizzi told the commission of inquiry into state capture that the company paid journalists to write positive stories about the controversial company.

Some have identified what they see as a double standard, as politicians have been named at the commission at Deputy Chief Justice Zondo’s request, leading them to question why journalists have not.

One user accused Zondo of “protecting journalists” and another accused the commission of “deliberately avoiding asking Agrizzi to name” the alleged paid journalists.

A recent Times Live report claimed Agrizzi had instructed his colleagues to donate R100,000 to the 2016 crowdfunding effort to help The SABC8, a group of journalists who defied then COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng’s orders to not show violent service delivery protests.

The publication further claimed to have seen a leaked email in which the donation was described as “the best return on investment ever” but added they were not able to trace the funds back to Bosasa despite consulting sources close to the story.

The South African National Editors’ Forum (SANEF) has since hit back against the claims, and Agrizzi himself said yesterday it was untrue.

“We have had the opportunity to go through [each] of the 394 donations made in July 2016 to the cause and could not find any donation from Bosasa and/or a person connected to Bosasa or a donation for R100,000,” said the organisation’s leadership in a statement.

READ MORE: Agrizzi tables confidential documents Bosasa paid NPA officials for

The group of journalists themselves have also released a statement.

“We do not know who the donors were in the crowdfunding initiative, some identified themselves and some remained anonymous,” they said.

They went on to add that “it is interesting to note that the same Bosasa that apparently funded us is the same one that paid the legal costs for Hlaudi Motsoeneng, against whom we fought to save a public asset from further capture”.

“We remain steadfast and committed and we will not be swayed by the purveyors of fake news and lies,” the statement concluded.

(Compiled by Daniel Friedman. Additional reporting by Makhosandile Zulu and Kaunda Selisho)

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