The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) has laid a complaint against e.tv for allegedly using video footage captured last year for a story on this year’s ongoing municipal strike, the union said on Tuesday.
The material, captured during an entirely different matter, was carried on Monday during eNews coverage of the strike without any indication that it was file footage, Samwu said in a statement.
It charged that this was designed to create an inaccurate view of the strike.
Samwu said the footage used showed a banner and members of the Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union (Imatu) which was not
participating in the present strike.
“Without notifying viewers that this is file footage, they are not being truthful or accurate,” it said.
e.tv spokesperson Vasili Vass would not comment, explaining that the television station had not received the complaint.
Samwu said it had also complained about SAFM’s use of the phrase “Samwu left a trail of destruction in Johannesburg and Pretoria” during its hourly broadcasts.
“That was the sum total of the reporting on the half-hourly broadcasts.
“There was no mention that in-depth discussions were underway between the parties, and that a settlement was being sought,” Samwu said, denying that there had been a trail of destruction, which implied substantial damage to property.
There was waste on the streets because it was not being collected and not because it was deliberately put there, the union said. –Sapa