ANC DISMISSES M&G GUTTER JOURNALISM

24 OCTOBER 2014

The African National Congress dismisses with the contempt they deserve reports published in today's Mail & Guardian Newspaper claiming a "rift" between ANC President, Comrade Jacob Zuma, and the Secretary-General, Comrade Gwede Mantashe (see here).

If one were to analyse South Africa through the fanciful headlines of the Mail & Guardian they would be forgiven for believing the ANC, and indeed South Africa, was a faction ridden amorphous mess in a state of perpetual crisis unable to take any decisions or provide any leadership to this country.

This view is devoid of any truth and a continuation of an age old attempt to sow division and distrust within the ANC and its leadership. It is the result of calculated acts at the whim of an opportunistic and malicious media, ignoring to tell to our people genuine stories of development and progress, instead choosing made up versions and fishing expeditions from faceless and nameless sources - gutter journalism at its best dependent entirely on the unbridled imagination of anonymous bogeymen and overzealous journalists.

It only leads one to wonder who these stories are intended to benefit and indeed if the agenda is not the more sinister one of entrenching the racist narrative of a failing state led by incapable, incompetent and self-serving Africans.

The National Officials of the African National Congress function as a cohesive and principled collective in the execution of their duties at the helm of the organisation. They meet on a regular basis and we praise them for remaining united and productively conduct their business of providing leadership and guidance to the structures of the African National Congress and the movement as a whole.

Desperate attempts by anyone, whether within the structures or not, to divide them are not new. These determined efforts to pit comrade against comrade have dismally failed before and will no doubt fail once again. Mail and Guardian has abandoned all principles of South African Press Code and the very ethics of objective journalism to become a propaganda pamphlet masquerading as a newspaper.

Statement issued by Zizi Kodwa, ANC national spokesperson, October 24 2014

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