The Press Ombudsman has dismissed all but one complaint against the Mail & Guardian by John Duarte, the former husband of ANC heavyweight Jessie Duarte.
This follows the publication of a report in the M&G last year, detailing John Duarte’s attempts at taking over housing projects from the embattled government housing agency, Thubelisha Homes.
He is Thubelisha’s acting chief executive.
John Duarte complained to the ombudsman that the M&G erroneously stated he was married to Jessie and that he was wrongly accused of conflicts of interest and poor corporate governance.
Out of the five complaints, only the complaint about his marriage to Duarte was upheld by deputy Press Ombudsman Johan Retief.
After publication of the story, John Duarte produced a divorce decree dated April 20 2001.
Retief found that the M&G should have corrected the mistake after being presented with the divorce papers.
On conflicts of interest, Retief found John Duarte was not denying the M&G‘s report, “but rather saying that he has his own interpretation of it”.
Instead of filing a complaint with the ombudsman’s office, John Duarte should have written a letter to the editor “giving his additional explanations or he could have asked the newspaper for space to write an article setting out his side of the story”, the ruling reads.