Embattled Communications Minister Dina Pule launched a full-frontal attack on the Sunday Times and its award-winning investigations team on Monday, claiming the journalists responsible for damning stories about her and her department were acting on behalf of “handlers” in the business community.
The Sunday Times revealed this weekend that it was in possession of documentation that “proved” the minister spent R2.6-million on a deal to employ cronies, flouting treasury regulations in the process.
Pule has claimed to have been the victim of a 10-month-long smear campaign by the paper and wasted no time in naming the journalists from the Sunday Times investigations team. But she refused to name their “handlers”, claiming at first that she had obtained a legal opinion that it would be unwise to do so.
Later at the press briefing, she said: “The Sunday Times published allegations without proof. Why must I provide proof now?”
In response to a question from a journalist, Pule said she was not saying the paper's journalists were “in the pockets” of these businessmen, but claimed she could prove the investigations team “knew [the businessmen] well”.
At the heart of Pule’s allegations is a lucrative tender to supply and distribute set-top boxes as part of the department’s digital migration strategy.
'Smear campaign'
Pule claimed that businesspeople allegedly behind the Sunday Times stories had a vested interest in the outcome of the tender process. She first claimed the “smear campaign” was aimed at bribing her into swaying the tender process.
Later, she said she did not say the journalists were “in the pockets” of the unnamed businessmen, but said she could prove the journalists “know them well”.
"Mzilikazi wa Afrika's return to the Sunday Times as a journalist has given his network of associates and friends a media ally whom they use to further their financial interests."
She claimed that on the day the first story "against" her was published, in June last year, she received a phone-call from Wa Afrika's "associates" requesting a meeting, during which they promised to make the story "disappear".
At this meeting, she alleged Wa Afrika said he would quash the allegations if Pule provided incriminating information about President Jacob Zuma, and accompany this with "another story about corruption" in her department.
Wa Afrika denied the allegations on Talk Radio 702 on Thursday and claimed he had always afforded Pule opportunities to state her case.
Pule also claimed that a woman, allegedly close to journalist Stephan Hofstatter, had tried to become her personal adviser, allegedly to gain damaging information against her.
Relationship
She then moved on to investigative journalist Rob Rose, “another journalist involved in the smear campaign against me”, who she alleged had a friend with business interests in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector.
Pule stopped short of explaining this alleged relationship, but used the opportunity to explain that the controversial ICT Indaba, held last year, was “a resounding success”.
Allegations in the procurement processes surrounding the indaba are subject to an investigation by the public protector.
Pule has not reported any of the allegations she made to the police, but said that she intended approaching the press ombud. She said she did not intend to sue the Sunday Times, either.
Pule said she would not resign in the light of the allegations against her and would not comment on whether or not the man allegedly at the receiving end of her cronyism was her boyfriend.
“I remain unshaken,” she said.
Later, Oppelt issued a statement strongly denying Pule's attack on the paper. Oppelt said the paper took exception to Pule's "personal" attack on its investigative team. She said the stories published by the Sunday Times, alleging impropriety on Pule's part, were "based on the public interest, with no other motivation in mind." Oppelt said Pule needed to provide proof if the opposite was true, or apologise for her statement.
Pule 'looking for sympathy'
Meanwhile, the DA said that Pule is trying to whip up sympathy ahead of her hearing with Parliament's ethics and members' interests committee.
"Pule must desist from trying to create the impression that she is a victim of blackmailers," DA MP Marian Shinn said in a statement.
The hearing would be held next week.
The committee had more than 2 000 pages of evidence against Pule in an investigation into her conduct, according to IOL.
A man the Sunday Times reported was her boyfriend, Phosane Mngqibisa, allegedly got friends and relatives onto the boards of the Post Office, Sentech, Usasa, and the SABC with Pule's full knowledge.
According to the Sunday Times Mngqibisa earned R6-million in management fees for the 2012 ICT Indaba, which Pule's department organised.
The department allegedly forced the conference's organisers to hire Mngqibisa, the paper reported. Millions of rand reportedly disappeared from the bank accounts of the event's sponsors.
The committee appointed a panel to look into Pule's role in the ICT indaba.