The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has criticised the Sunday Times for publishing rape claims from ”faceless sources” against former deputy president Jacob Zuma.
The fact that neither the police nor the victim would confirm that such an accusation had been made ”makes us smell a rat”, the federation said in a statement on Monday.
”There can be no worse violation of human rights than this. Such practices by sections of the media pose a real threat to our democracy and its institutions.”
Meanwhile, the former deputy president was considering action against the Sunday Times, which defended its story on Monday.
Zuma and his lawyer Michael Hulley were to meet later in the day to consider possible steps against the newspaper.
”I am meeting with my client later to catch our breath and for me to advise him what he needs to do in the circumstance,” Hulley said. ”We should know by Wednesday what we will do.”
Zuma has denied the weekend report on the alleged rape of a family friend at his Forest Town, Johannesburg, home on November 2.
The woman, whom the newspaper did not name, apparently reported the alleged incident to authorities two days later at the insistence of a doctor.
She would not confirm the allegation, the Sunday Times said.
Beeld newspaper and The Sunday Independent named the alleged victim as Fezeka Khuzwayo. Beeld said Khuzwayo was a 31-year-old HIV-positive Aids activist, and published a photograph of her.
The Sunday Independent quoted her as saying: ”I have no idea where these stories come from. I have repeatedly said that none of this has happened to me.”
Cosatu said the Sunday Times report appears to be the latest in a ”phenomenon” of false stories being planted in the media at ”strategic moments”.
This is then followed by trial in the media, and the passing of sentence in the court of public opinion.
”The Sunday Times is either practising the worst form of reckless and irresponsible journalism or, as we have long suspected, it has joined a political faction which has an agenda to slander and damage the careers of individuals,” the federation said.
The media, at least the Sunday Times, appear willing to sacrifice journalistic principles to pursue a vendetta against individuals, it added.
If the practice were allowed to continue, ”many cadres will be destroyed through the planting of stories in the media by factions in order to destroy one another”.
The newspaper said it is 100% convinced of the story’s accuracy.
”Before publication, the story was subjected to the Sunday Times‘s strictest tests and it would not have seen the light of day if we had the slightest doubt about the existence of the investigation,” editor Mondli Makhanya said in a notice on the newspaper’s website.
Hulley said he had been unable by Monday to determine at which police station the alleged complaint was laid.
The police repeated their earlier refusal to comment on any aspects of the allegations.
”The position of the [South African Police Service] has not altered and I will not be responding to your questions,” Director Sally de Beer said in reply to the South African Press Association’s written questions.
”I work in terms of a police standing order which instructs media-liaison officers on policy for media liaison,” she said. — Sapa