Controversial former City Press editor Vusi Mona has been appointed acting deputy director general for communications, the Presidency announced on Tuesday.
Mona was editor of City Press from late 2000 to the end of 2003.
He shot to notoriety when he published a story handed to him by former Sunday Times journalist Ranjeni Munusamy after it had been rejected by her editor, Mathata Tsedu. The story alleged that former public prosecutions director Bulelani Ngcuka was an apartheid spy, which led to the Hefer Commission of Inquiry in 2003.
Mona also subsequently revealed some of the details of an off-the record briefing by Ngcuka.
The Hefer Commission tore Mona apart, and did not find Ngcuka to be a spy. He then issued an apology to Ngcuka.
During the commission, he was labelled ”a dead man walking” by one of Ngcuka’s legal representatives.
Mona was also condemned by the South African National Editors’ Forum for unprofessional conduct.
Prior to that, he had worked as features editor and deputy editor of City Press. He was editor of Tribute magazine in the late 1990s, and a former editor of the Teacher newspaper.
After his editorship of City Press, he became the managing director of a corporate communications firm, the Corporate Communications Agency, a subsidiary of the Agency for Marketing and Advertising.
Meanwhile, the Presidency confirmed on Tuesday that Vincent Magwenya has been appointed acting spokesperson for President Jacob Zuma.
Magwenya previously worked for Reuters Television, Worldwide Television News, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and the South African Broadcasting Corporation, the Presidency said in a statement.
He also worked for Magna Carta Public Relations as business development director, and most recently for Standard Bank Group as senior manager: media relations, Africa and International.