Sunday newspaper forced to apologise to Chiefs

The Press Ombudsman found that the Sunday newspaper had breached the Press Code.

The ruling was based on two articles published by the paper in 2017 – ‘Bitter words over Shabba’s luxury car’ (published on 26 November 2017) and ‘Chiefs staff revolt over Xmas bonuses’ (10 December 2017).

Chiefs felt the stories were misleading and untrue and lodged a complaint with the Press Council.

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Here under the ruling of the Ombudsman on 14 March 2018:

Sunday World was instructed to apologise to Kaizer Chiefs and Jessica Motaung for:

Unfairly and without proper verification stating as fact that:

an “acrimonious war” had broken out between her and Mahlakgane at Kaizer Chiefs soccer club, and for using the word “war” in the front-page headline (first article);

there was a “bonus rebellion” and a “mutiny” at the club, and for using the word “revolt” in both the front-page and inside headlines (second article); and

publishing the allegation that Jessica Motaung had embarked on a witch-hunt to sniff out whistle blowers without proper verification.

“The club feels vindicated by the ruling and urge Sunday World and their journalist, Ngwako Malatji, to be more responsible in the future, instead of allowing themselves to be used as tools for malicious rumour-mongering,” read a statement from Chiefs.

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