BY REGINALD KANYANE

The ANC in North West lambasted Sunday Times newspaper reports that several passengers were forced to disembark from the bus ferrying its members to the manifesto launch in Port Elizabeth on Friday.

The newspaper alleged that some of ANC members from North West were reportedly removed from the bus by party leaders because they feared that they did not support President Jacob Zuma. According to reports, a branch delegate who made it to the manifesto launch in Port Elizabeth said the bus was told to turn back as it was approaching Pretoria.

However ANC in North West refutes claims and released a statement calling the newspaper’s article malicious and damaging.

Provincial secretary, Dakota Legoete said: “The story claims that some of ANC members were forced off the buses to Port Elizabeth because they are viewed as non-supporters of ANC President Jacob Zuma. This claim lacks authenticity and it is clear that the three Sunday Times journalists who wrote the article saw no need to dig deeper for the truth.

“Simple questions like who issued instructions for people to be removed from buses. Who were those given instructions, how were the instructions communicated and why such instructions were issued would have helped the journalists get the true facts.”

Legoete further added that however it appeared that the newspaper deliberately avoided asking these crucial questions because the answers were going to spoil their mean intentions to vilify the ANC.

“For the record, the ANC ensures that for every trip undertaken the party knows who is on which bus. The organisation does this to adequately account for everyone on board. Even with this being the norm, the ANC in Bokone Bophirima does not have any information supporting the claims reported in the Sunday Times about the trip to Port Elizabeth. There was no instruction from anyone from the ANC Bokone Bophirima provincial leadership to remove people from buses.

He said the Sunday Times article was pure fabrication. Legoete further added that it is disappointing that none of the three journalists who were proud to put their names on the article saw it proper to advise each other to do an adequate investigation on this untrue non-story.

“As ANC in Bokone Bophirima, we do not want to reach a conclusion that our country’s media has lost its core responsibility of reporting the truth and being objective and fair. However, reports such as the one carried by Sunday Times make us wonder if we do not already have such among South Africa’s media houses.

“We call on all journalists and editors to refrain from being used as political tools and strive for the objective reporting they all claim to uphold,” he said.

-TDN

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