2005-11-15,+COSATU+statement+on+the+Sunday+Times

= COSATU statement on the Sunday Times =

The COSATU National Office Bearers met today and expressed deep concern at the //Sunday Times// report alleging that a charge of rape has been laid against the ANC Deputy President.

The National Office Bearers noted the following:


 * 1) The Sunday Times story is wholly based on faceless sources. The alleged victim does not confirm that she laid a charge with the SAPS.
 * 2) The SAPS has so far refused to confirm that a charge has been laid involving the ANC Deputy President.
 * 3) The Sunday Independent carried the name of a woman (Fezekile Khuzwayo) denying that she was raped or that she laid a charge
 * 4) The lawyer of the ANC Deputy President vehemently denies the charge and is considering suing the Sunday Times for damages.

In this context the Sunday Times article makes us smell a rat. It has all the hallmarks of what we have witnessed over the past five years. False stories are deliberately planted in the media at strategic moments. Then there follows a trial in the media and the passing of sentence on victims in the court of public opinion. This phenomenon has plunged our country and movement into the current crisis.

The Sunday Times is either practising the worst form of reckless and irresponsible journalism or, as we have long suspected, it has joined a political faction which has an agenda to slander and damage the careers of individuals.

The COSATU National Office Bearers accordingly condemn in the strongest terms possible what the ANC Deputy President, Jacob Zuma and Fezekile Khuzwayo have been subjected to. There can be no worse violation of human rights than this. Such practises by sections of the media pose a real threat to our democracy and its institutions.

If this is allowed to continue, many cadres will be destroyed through the planting of stories in the media by factions in order to destroy one another. The media, or at least the Sunday Times, seems willing to sacrifice journalistic principles in pursuance of a vendetta against individuals.

Lastly the COSATU National Office Bearers are taken aback that such events are happening only eleven years into our democracy.

Paul Notyhawa (Spokesperson) Congress of South African Trade Unions

1-5 Leyds Cnr Biccard Streets Braamfontein, 2017 P.O.Box 1019 Johannesburg, 2000 South Africa

Cell: 082 4911 591 Tel: +27 11 339-4911/24 Fax: +27 11 339-5080/6940 E-Mail: paul@cosatu.org.za