Jay Naidoo
Right to Reply
It is a sad day for South African journalism when an allegedly serious newspaper can write a lead article based on gossip, innuendo and rumour, without quoting one named source.
This is an example of microwave journalism that does not inform or educate the public and is sadly reminiscent of the British tabloid press.
That ministers and their directors general disagree is a normal part of our democracy. There are protocols in government designed to address these differences and that is what happened. These differences were resolved at a meeting with Deputy President Thabo Mbeki in early December. The fact that I have extended Director General Andile Ngcaba’s contract of employment by a further two years should surely put this rumour to bed.
I was duly elected to the number five position in the national executive committee conference of the African National Congress held in Mmabatho in December 1977 and subsequently placed number 16 at the recently held list conference.
If these do not reflect the status I occupy within the ANC, I am not sure your newspaper understands the mechanisms of democracy within any organisation. I am most certainly a member of the ANC media subcommittee of the ANC.
Further, I was not at the recent list conference because I was mandated by Deputy President Mbeki and Minister of Foreign Affairs Alfred Nzo to deliver the keynote address at the Southern African Development Community consultative conference on regional information technology and telecommunications strategy.
In fact, the Cabinet and in particular the deputy president has fully endorsed the work I do as chair of the African Telecommunications Ministers to drive African connectivity in the region and the continent.
In reference to the appointment of Mr Ricky Naidoo, I have never interacted with him or Telkom management about his appointment. In fact, I was totally unaware of this appointment until I was informed by my public relations officer that such an appointment had been made.
The choice of the future Cabinet in terms of the Constitution (the sovereign law of the country I may add in case you have forgotten!) makes the appointment of the future Cabinet a prerogative solely of the incoming president. I certainly don’t want to be part of any attempt to rewrite or undermine that Constitution. Therefore I will never attempt to predetermine these choices but will continue to serve my movement, leadership and country to the best of my ability.
I have no need to prove to anyone that I have made a humble contribution to our country’s transition. Whatever my role is in the future is a matter of discussion with the president of the ANC and the incoming President of South Africa, Comrade Thabo Mbeki.
It is also a discussion I will have with the woman I love, my wife Lucie Page, and my children Shanti (3), Kami (6) and Leandre (12). I only ask that you respect that politicians also have personal lives.
I share a common mission with Deputy President Mbeki for the realisation of the African Renaissance. I am passionate about the ability of technology to level the playing fields and ensure that our people in even the remotest rural areas benefit from the information revolution. Technology is a basic need of all basic needs. It allows us to deliver distance education, telemedicine, and government services over large distances at low costs.
The power of choice in the South African media industry today will mean that we will never return to the dark days of apartheid censorship. At the same time, journalism does require factual analysis and collaborative evidence.
This is what the Weekly Mail used to do in pre-1994. I am sure many of your readers wish those days of serious analysis would be brought back. But I suppose sexy headlines sell newspapers and I should consider putting a patent on my name before it gets used by any other newspaper title that is suffering from flagging circulation.
I have never felt so unstressed in my life. I do meditation and yoga at 5.30am every morning, at least three physical exercise sessions a week and have an aromatherapy massage once a week. I will, on my return, be prepared to volunteer a free yoga and meditation course to your newsroom staff so that their stress levels go down and the level of journalism can go up.
n Ferial Haffajee replies: Does the minister’s offer of his services as a guru and masseur indicate that a change in career is indeed nigh? All we can say is “ohmmmm” … and welcome!
On a more serious note, Jay Naidoo has broken news and confirmed much of our story. He reveals in his letter that relations between him and his Director General Andile Ngcaba had become so bad that Mbeki was drawn in as peacemaker at a December meeting. Only thereafter was Ngcaba’s contract extended.
Where we differ is in our belief that peace has come that easily. Our sources say that it has not. Those sources were senior and spanned the inner-reaches of Naidoo’s ministry and Ngcaba’s department as well as the top ranks of the ANC.
The coming apart of that relationship was an open secret in political and broadcasting circles. It had never been written before and a story analysing where that tumultuous power struggle will end is newsworthy in anybody’s book, as the minister should know. It is noteworthy too that neither Naidoo nor Ngcaba have denied that they differed fundamentally and vociferously on the key policy issues and programmes which we documented last week. On numerous occasions, we have been approached to run stories obviously intended to smear the minister. We did not do so after due investigation and scrutiny.
Furthermore, while the minister accuses this newspaper of a lack of professionalism and sensationalism, he ignored the basics of good media relations. He was approached for comment on the Friday prior to publication, promised repeatedly that he would be available for an interview and finally refused to respond.
Journalism, in our book, is not only about covering the minister when he dons a postman’s outfit to show how service delivery is improving or writing about his rally to support African technology.
And finally, the Mail & Guardian’s circulation is not flagging. It is, in fact, at an all-time high, a fact that can be confirmed by checking with the Audit Bureau of Circulation.
We stand by our story.