KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Premier Sbu Ndebele on Thursday slammed an Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) claim that the provincial government had pulled R200 000-worth of advertising as a result of negative media reports.
Ndebele described a statement by the IFP’s provincial leader, Lionel Mtshali, as an ”outrageous and despicable lie” and a ”a pathetic attempt to get cheap publicity”.
Earlier on Thursday, Mtshali released a statement saying: ”The IFP has noted with interest that the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government has withdrawn all its advertising requirements, to the tune of R200 000, from the Independent Newspapers group.”
Mtshali went on to say that the withdrawal of the advertising had been as a direct result of recent articles published in the Sunday Tribune about mismanagement in the agriculture and environmental department.
”The IFP applauds the rare courage of the Independent Newspapers, which proves that the oversight role played by independent mass media is indispensable for transparency in the public life.
”The IFP believes that the African National Congress government’s vindictive attitude towards the media is reminiscent of the apartheid governments’ efforts to censor investigative journalism,” said Mtshali.
”The IFP condemns the government for its cowardice and inability to face up to the reality of mismanagement and corruption in its ranks and for taking its frustrations out on the media, which are merely doing their job,” said Mtshali.
Ndebele countered that he had held a meeting with the editors of Independent Newspapers in KwaZulu-Natal for ”normal discussions about how to deepen our relationship”.
”We advertise in Independent Newspapers and this has never been an issue. Anything contrary to this is a despicable lie. The editors also requested to have similar meetings with all [provincial ministers] for in-depth discussions”, Ndebele said.
In a statement issued to the South African Press Association, Sunday Tribune editor Alan Dunn said: ”We’re grateful to Mr Mtshali for his remarks about this newspaper’s journalism. And we naturally side with his observation about the indispensable role of independent mass media in transparency.”
However, he said that the group had had ”no official word of this [the cancellation of the advertising]”.
”We will seek the reasons should there be anything to it. As of now, the truth is that the KZN provincial government continues to advertise in our newspapers. Should there be any difficulties between us, I believe we’ll be able to overcome them by direct contact and without sacrificing any principles.” — Sapa