By Thys Khiba – The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) has condemned media coverage of Moti Group of companies amid the Gauteng High Court order obtained by the Moti Group requiring amaBhungane to return thousands of company documents.
Popcru has confirmed its support for the organisation and its CEO Dondo Mogajane.
Former Director General of the National Treasury and current Chief Executive of Moti Group, Dondo Mogajane
The Moti Group is involved in a legal battle with amaBhunganeCentre for Investigative Journalism over articles published about the company. The articles are written based on internal documents, which Zunaid Moti, founder of the organisation indicated that were stolen and leaked to amaBhungane.
The police union has alleged that media companies like News24 and non-profit investigative journalism units like amaBhunganeare undermining the rights and dignity of black businesses, and its leaders.
“Black businesses are under siege by certain members of the media, as they are often subjected to separate and unequal standards and scrutiny from their white counterparts by journalists
“Yet these same journalists participate in a clear pattern of discrimination, harassment, and abuse, refusing to allow black business leaders the proper opportunity to respond to their accusations, or failing to represent their responses fairly and in balanced manner,” said Popcru President Zizamele Cebekhulu-Makhaza.
Cebekhulu-Makhaza claimed reporting on the Moti Group does not pass nor satisfy every process of news reporting. In line with his criticism of how media report on the company, he suggested ‘journalists have been allowed to publish stories on unreliable evidence and sources, without having to present their information for verification.’
“Freedom of expression and the role of media are vital in our democracy. We are gravely concerned, however, that the rule of law is not being enforced, and that black businesses are not being treated fairly or impartially.
“We believe that all cases of theft must be treated as theft. Criminals cannot be allowed to manipulate the media or the criminal justice system to avoid accountability for their crimes. This treatment is a gross violation of black businesses’ rights and is impeding the growth and transformation of our economy,” Cebekhulu-Makhaza said.
Cebekhulu-Makhaza expressed worry on the 2022 BBBEE Commission report that shown the share of black–owned businesses in the economy. The President of the police union indicated that the report shows the share has decreased to 29.5%in 2021 from 31% in 2020.
“Additionally, the share of black management control had declined to 51.6% from 57% in 2020.
“This situation cannot continue, and action must be taken. We cannot allow the hard-won economic gains made since 1994 to be further lost by allowing a culture of fear and mistrust of black businesspeople to reside in our society, or by continuing this siege on black excellence,” Cebekhulu-Makhaza said.
The Moti Group CEO and former Treasury director-generalMogajane informed the court that the documents that are in the wrong hands will cause the company reputational damage. He has accused amaBhungane of having a “vendetta against the Moti Group” and “publishing a series [of] highly distorted inaccurate and defamatory reports.”
“..in the wrong hands, [the documents] will cause the MotiGroup reputational damage if a false narrative based on the stolen documents is advanced, which is currently the case,” said in an affidavit.
It has been reported that the internal documents were allegedly downloaded by a former employee of the Moti Group, Clinton van Niekerk before he resigned from the company. Van Niekerkwas arrested in January at Durban’s King Shaka International Airport for theft of information.
He was transported to Johannesburg by the Gauteng police, and released two days later. The matter was struck from the roll following a decision by the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Durban that set aside the arrest warrant.
In response to the court order, amaBhungane confirmed that they will challenge the interim interdict obtained by the MotiGroup.
“This kind of ex-parte prior restraint of publication and incursion into media freedom is unprecedented in the democratic era.
“Nowhere in his papers does Mr Mogajane remotely demonstrate that amaBhungane has acted outside of the public interest or outside of the highest journalistic standards. Despite his protestations, it is a measure of what the Moti Group is desperate to conceal that it has taken this drastic step,” said amaBhungane managing director, Sam Sole.
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