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Mantashe admits claiming he bribed reporters, but says it was a lie

───   05:04 Fri, 01 Nov 2019

Mantashe admits claiming he bribed reporters, but says it was a lie | News Article
Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe

ANC chairman and Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe has admitted that he told a Sunday World reporter he had bribed fellow journalists at the newspaper to withhold a story but said that he had not, in fact, bribed them.


The admission came at a "robust" meeting between Mantashe, his special advisors and chief of staff, the editor of the Sunday World, Makhudu Sefara and the South African National Editors' Forum (Sanef). 

"Minister Mantashe confirmed the following: that he had stated that he had bribed journalists – confirming that the statements attributed to him in the Sunday World were correct. He, however, denied bribing journalists. He insists there was never a meeting with the paper’s journalists and an exchange of money," Sanef said on Thursday.

It went on to call on Mantashe to apologise to the Sunday World, to the media industry and to South Africans as a whole.

"Sanef chairperson, Mahlatse Mahlase, requested that the minister apologise to the nation, journalists at Sunday World, and the industry for the damage, pain and confusion he has caused by making the serious allegations that he had bribed journalists."

Sefara said the Sunday World had suffered reputational damage as a result of the minister's claims and the reporters in question had suffered anguish.

“Our reporters feel he must apologise not just to the paper, but for causing pain and trauma in their lives," Sefara said. 

Sanef stressed that Sefara had been forced to subject all his staff to lie-detector tests. 

It said Mantashe had also agreed to subject himself to the full processes of the independent inquiry into media ethics and credibility headed by retired Judge Kathy Satchwell to explain the circumstances that led to him making the statement.

The story that emerged this week linked both Mantashe and Finance Minister Tito Mboweni to the same 26-year-old woman, who claimed she left the treasury chief for the ANC chairman.

Mboweni has not commented.


African News Agency 

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