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=The Sunday Times should be ashamed of itself=

On 16 April 2006, the Sunday Times ran a front page story “Zuma’s Gaddaffi visit”, in which it links a long planned international visit of the SACP to Libya to attempts at smearing the Deputy President of the ANC, Cde Zuma.

If I ever had a grain of doubt that sections of the media do collude in attempts to besmirch the name of Cde Zuma, then this Sunday Times article is the ultimate proof of this. Why do I say this?

Midweek I received a tip-off that someone known to me and whose identity was also disclosed to me had planted such a story with the Sunday papers. Lo and behold, the Sunday Times phones me on Saturday afternoon to ask questions about the SACP’s trip to Libya late last year. Although I explained to the Sunday Times that this trip was a bona fide SACP trip as part of our international relations programme, and had nothing to do with whatever visit might have been undertaken by Cde Zuma, the paper continues to make such a link, without providing any shred of proof whatsoever. The links drawn by the Sunday Times are of its own creation and fertile imagination.

True to its modus operandi, the Sunday Times is yet again quoting faceless “Zuma aides” as having given them such information about the SACP trip, ostensibly on the grounds that we are Zuma “backers”. This is at best a blatant lie, and at worst conspiracy gone mad. The Sunday Times should be truly ashamed of itself.

This proves to me that the Sunday Times will stop at nothing to catch the nearest straws to try and publish what they think is negative information about Cde Zuma, including imaginary linkages to SACP trips. Any newspaper worth its salt would know that a person of Zuma’s stature, who is former Deputy President of the Republic and who has on numerous occasions in the past also acted as Head of State, and having been involved in a number of peace missions on the continent, would not need an SACP delegation to “clear the way for Zuma” to any country on the continent or for that matter anywhere else in the world.

As the SACP we wish to reiterate a point we have made before, that the media must desist from acting in a factionalist manner to whatever they might see as disagreements or problems inside the movement and our alliance. The media, especially the Sunday Times, must at all times seek to report fairly and objectively about whatever might be happening in our movement, and avoid being seen as taking sides. We sincerely hope that the Sunday Times will use its 100th anniversary to heed this advice, in word and in deed!

General Secretary SACP
 * Blade Nzimande**

CONTACT: SACP Spokesperson Tel: 011 339 3621 Fax: 011 339 4244 Mobile: 082 226 1802 Email: malesela@sacp.org.za**
 * Malesela Maleka