The Democratic Alliance’s blacklisting of Sowetan parliamentary correspondent Anna Majavu has led to divisions in the party, insiders say.
DA leader Helen Zille, Avusa editor-in-chief Mondli Makhanya and acting Sowetan editor Thabo Leshilo are due to meet on Friday next week to resolve the matter, says Lindiwe Mazibuko, the DA spokesperson.
Majavu was blacklisted by the DA because of her “bias” in writing stories about the party, which runs the Western Cape. The DA claimed Majavu’s previous job as spokesperson for the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) clouded her judgment when writing about the party.
The DA’s complaints about Majavu never received proper responses because “the editors change so much”, a source with insider knowledge told the Mail & Guardian.
The party has taken the Sowetan to the press ombudsman four times. Twice the ombud found for the DA and twice for Majavu. The DA took her off the party mailing list four months ago. But Majavu has admitted in an interview with The Media Online to employing a similar tactic — as the Samwu spokesperson several years ago she removed Ferial Haffajee, then with the Financial Mail and now editor of City Press, from the trade union’s mailing list.
That was because Haffajee had superimposed a Viking hat on to a photograph of the Samwu general secretary in the Financial Mail, Majavu said. But different views have emerged in the DA leadership about the way in which the party handled Majavu. Some feel she deserved the treatment she received, but others feel the party has lost credibility in the spat.
One DA MP, who is also a “shadow minister”, said: “There were a lot of people who asked questions about what this was meant to achieve and what was the big deal. They said it was unnecessary and a waste of time. But they have been people who were not at the frontline of dealing with these issues.”
The party knew that taking Majavu off the list would have no practical effect on her work because media statements were on the party’s website and Majavu could still attend DA press conferences, another MP said. But its action was to “show protest”. “It is— symbolic to show our unhappiness with her stories. What else was there for us to do?” — Additional reporting by Glynnis Underhill