SAA gag order: Media groups strike back
Cape Town – Three South African media groups have teamed up in a court application to dismiss an urgent interdict brought against them by South African Airways (SAA) to prevent publication of a board memorandum.
The group filed its affidavit in the Gauteng High Court on Monday and set the matter for 8 December, giving SAA until 16:00 on 3 December to file a replying affidavit.
Media24 (representing Fin24 and City Press and owned by Naspers), BDFM (representing Business Day) and Moneyweb have asked the Gauteng High Court to reconsider the order that was granted and refuse the application brought by SAA with costs.
The four publications had published various stories stemming from a leaked memorandum, but in the early hours of Tuesday morning were ordered to halt publication and remove references to it on its electronic formats.
SAA has recently been making headlines in the media consistently as the ailing state-owned company faces an internal power struggle amid increasing financial turbulence. It has had "repeated guarantees on an enormous scale from the state through the fiscus," said Business Day editor Songezo Zibi, on behalf of the applicants. "Such guarantees are not available to ordinary private entities."