The Black Business Council (BBC) has condemned the media attacks led by amaBhungane against the Moti Group of Companies .

According to the BBC, the attacks are part of a disturbing pattern of racism and a total disregard for black business rights.

BBC President Elias Monage.

Additionally, the Group and its CEO, Dondo Mogajane, have recently received support from the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU).

According to POPCRU, certain members of the media, such as amaBhungane and News24, are consistently undermining the rights and dignity of black businesses and black business leaders through their treatment and reporting.

The BBC is one of the largest and most powerful advocacy groups for black professionals and businesses in the country. At forums like the National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC), it represents the interests of over two million members.

After it had  received dozens of similar complaints of racism, harassment, and unfair treatment by certain members of the media from its members, the BBC is now throwing its support behind the Moti Group in its ongoing legal battle against amaBhungane.

BBC states that the Moti Group’s case forms part of a larger pattern of orchestrated attempts to delegitimise black professionals, academics, and businesses.

“The BBC has taken note of the activities and actions of certain amaBhungane and Daily Maverick journalists, who have increasingly distinguished themselves by their almost singular focus on targeting black people for denigration, vilification, and badmouthing,” says BBC President Elias Monage.

AmaBhungane is abusing its status as a media platform to justify acts that effectively constitute or support corporate espionage, apparently deeming it their inalienable right to simply steal information from individuals and businesses, he adds.

“The invasion of privacy exemplified by the Moti Group’s case risks setting a dangerous precedent for other media to be tempted into seducing employees of companies into breaking the law, and later avoiding justice by simply claiming to be whistleblowers.

“But while the BBC supports press freedom, we will never accept the theft of information as a correct or standard practice of investigative journalism. We condemn amaBhungane’s actions as completely unacceptable.”

The BBC said it will be engaging the South African National Editors’ Forum (SANEF) to demand an explanation for its silence on the unsavoury practice of stealing information.

“It cannot be that the constitutional rights of individuals, businesses, or entities should be sacrificed at the altar of reporting by ‘any means possible’.

This is particularly offensive given that amaBhungane and other members of the media are relying on this same Constitution to defend their own actions in the so-called name of press freedom,” emphasises Monage.

Monage points to a recent opinion piece published in Africa News Global by Dr Clyde Ramalaine titled: “Is amaBhungane entitled to hide behind ‘investigative journalism’ to veil its usefulness as a political tool, perhaps its raison detre? – The Moti Case”.

In this article, Dr Ramalaine notes that there must be a clearer distinction drawn between how information is obtained and the actual content harvested, and warns against allowing media to be captured by outside interests or tangled in proxy wars.

“The BBC and our members will not sit by while media platforms, that are sponsored by a mix of local and global entities, driven by racist and dubious agendas, are allowed to simply annihilate the reputations of black leaders and black businesses. The economic emancipation and transformation imperative of South Africa must not be jeopardised by the vendetta of a few rogue media.”

The court was informed by Moti Group CEO and former Treasury director-general Mogajane that the documents will harm the company’s reputation. He has accused amaBhungane of “publishing a series [of] highly distorted inaccurate and defamatory reports” and of having a “vendetta against the Moti Group.”

Moti Group CEO and former Treasury director-general Mogajane

According to an affidavit, “…if a false narrative based on the stolen documents is advanced, which is the case currently, [the documents] will cause the MotiGroup reputational damage [in the wrong hands].”

It has been reported that Clinton van Niekerk, a former employee of the Moti Group, downloaded the internal documents prior to his resignation. For information theft, Van Niekerk was detained in January at Durban’s King Shaka International Airport.

The police in Gauteng took him to Johannesburg, where he was released two days later. The matter was removed from the roll after the arrest warrant was overturned by the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Durban.

AmaBhungane confirmed in response to the court order that they will challenge the MotiGroup’s interim interdict.

CENTRAL NEWS

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