The leading Sunday tabloid is under fire following an article it published in 2009 claiming the SABC bought exclusive rights from Mandla Mandela for Madiba's funeral.
The Bizcommunity.com reports that the "Sunday World newspaper has been told by the Nelson Mandela family and the SABC [in no uncertain terms] to issue a public apology or face prosecution in a court of law."
In a press conference held at the SABC headquarters yesterday, a visibly angry Mandla Mandela, who is a chief and Madiba's grandson, made it very clear that the article published in the Sunday World is not true and is possibly malicious.
The tabloid reported on Sunday 31 May that Mandla pocketed a tune of R3 million just for signing documents to give the broadcaster exclusive rights for Madiba's burial. In an article titled Mandla ‘sells’ Mandela - Nets R3m for his funeral and a teaser reading Madiba ‘buried alive’ - Grandson Mandla sells uTata’s funeral footage for R3m, the paper reported that "The deal, coded ‘The M Project’ by the SABC, has a budget of about R700 million and was approved by former SABC head of news Snuki Zikalala some time last year [2008]."
The Sunday World is under fire for writing this article
The paper alleged that all those involved were sworn to secrecy. However, an alleged Sunday World source never kept their word. Said the alleged source: “We have already done about 15 packages for The M Project, secured exclusive interviews with a number of people who are very close to Madiba”.
At the time, the broadcaster's news boss, Snuki, allegedly did confirm the existence of the "M Project" allegedly commenting: "There is nothing more I can say about The M Project as you are fully aware that we have all signed the confidentiality clause.” The SABC's PR spin doctor, Kaizer Kganyago said he knew nothing about such a "project".
The SABC is very likely to sue, allegedly just to a settle a score with the Mail&Guargian or the media, who cares
At the press briefing yesterday, Mandla fumed: "I have never pocketed any money or sat at any meeting where this matter was discussed, and traditionally you don't discuss anyone's funeral when that person is still alive," he said.
Kganyago told the Bizcommunity yesterday at the media picnic: "We refuted these allegations and afterwards did our internal investigation and found no evidence of such thing into the SABC, as we wanted to ensure that nobody from our side was involved in such act," he said.
The SABC told journalists that their internal investigation shows that such a "project" is non-existant and asserts the broadcaster would never do such a thing especially for an event such as a state funeral.
Mdiba and Mandla Mandela (Smiling right)
Mandla accused journalists of lying to sell their papers at the expense of his reputation.
He demands that the paper apologises, and failure to do so will result in the Sunday World being hit with a law suit. "We are prepared to reconcile with the paper and its group if they apologise. We would just be glad if the matter is finally laid to rest,” he said.
However, the SABC has not made up its mind yet and it will take legal counsel on how to hit Avusa media, the media company that owns the tabloid. The SABC went on to accuse Sunday World journos of not verifying their facts saying this casts a negative light on alll journalists.
The SABC is in fact itself a culprit of not verifying its facts. Earlier this year, SABC 3 News @ 7 was given an instruction by a court of law to apologise to the Mail&Guardian after broadcasting unfounded allegations about the paper. It was instructed to so during the first 10 minutes of its 19:00 news. This was after the channel broadcast Robert Gumede's claims of corruption and racism against investigative journalist Sam Sole of the Mail & Guardian.
The late Manto Tshabalala-Msimang had her fair share of battles with Avusa Media
If Mandla and SABC do take Avusa Media to court, this wouldn't be the first time Avusa is dragged to court, or any other media house for that matter. In 2007, Avusa and Sunday Times were taken to court by the former Minister of Health and former Minister in the Presidency, Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang. Aptly nicknamed Dr Beetroot, the late polical "icon" was called a "Drunk and a thief" by the Sunday Times after the paper did in fact produce proof that the "drunkard and a thief" stole from a patient while serving as a nurse in Botswana and that she drank Woolworths wine while in hospital for liver complications.
That resulted in a court battle that saw the paper's lawyers working with the late Minister's lawyers to enter into an agreement without the courts.
Madiba and Graca (similing), Mandla, allegedly netted R3 million from SABC
The Bizcommunity reports that the SABC challenged the Sunday World to publish the contract that Mandla and the SABC allegedly signed.
This comes at an interesting time in South Africa. The ANC-led government is currently pushing for the Protection of Information Bill and is taking stock on the proposed Media Appeals Tribunal (MAT). Whethet the MAT comes into existence or not, will be guided by how responsible journalists are in their reporting, asserts the ANC.