SANEF shocked by allegations that Mantashe paid Sunday World journalists
27 October 2019
The South African National Editors' Forum (SANEF) is shocked to hear of the Minister of Mineral and Energy Affairs, Gwede Mantashe’s brazen alleged admission that he paid two Sunday World journalists to “bury” a story about his relationship with student, Lerato Habiba Makgatho. According to the Sunday World, Mantashe paid the journalists R70 000 to “destroy evidence” backing the story. Mantashe has not revealed the names of the journalists.
SANEF believes that “paid for” or what is known as “brown envelope” journalism is completely counter to journalism ethics. Section 2 of the Press Council Code deals with “Independence and Conflicts of Interest”. The Code states clearly that:
The media shall:
2.1 not allow commercial, political, personal or other non-professional considerations to influence reporting, and avoid conflicts of interest as well as practices that could lead readers to doubt the media’s independence and professionalism;