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News24 has been directed by Deputy Press Ombudsman Tyrone August to apologise to Nombasa Mawela for breaches of the Press Code regarding an article published on 22 May 2021 after Mawela filed a complaint.
The article was based on evidence in The Eskom Files showing that funds used by former Eskom executive Frans Hlakudi to pay Mawela in the course of a chicken-rearing business were alleged kickbacks paid to Hlakudi by Eskom suppliers on the Kusile Power Station Project.
While the majority of Mawela’s complaints were dismissed, the Deputy Press Ombudsman directed News24 to apologise for the following:
The wording of the headline – THE ESKOM FILES | Gwede Mantashe's daughter Nombasa Mawela paid for chickens with dirty Eskom 'kickback' cash’ – was ambiguous, and readers might have interpreted it to mean that Mawela used “kickback” cash to pay for chickens when, in fact, it was Hlakudi who used the alleged “kickback” money to pay Mawela.
This constitutes a breach of clause 10.1 of the Press Code. Further complaints by Mawela about the headline were dismissed.
News24 was also found to have breached clause 1.1 of the Press Code for inaccurately reporting the period of Mawela’s employment at Eskom and for incorrectly stating that a final invoice in November 2017 was not paid by Hlakudi.
A final invoice after November 2017 was however never paid, according to Mawela. News24 accepted the error and undertook to correct it.
News24 also undertook to correct the incorrect period of employment with Eskom, which was informed by official responses provided by Eskom.
News24 was further found to have breached clause 1.2 for failing to record that a reference to the US State of Alabama in an agreement between Mawela and Hlakudi (signed after money was paid) was deleted by hand and “N/A” (not applicable) was inserted.
News24 was also found to have breached clause 1.2 for failing to record that Mawela had paid Hlakudi for the provision of chickens and feed.
News24 argued in response that no objective evidence existed to support this, as the bank statements did not reflect any payments from Mawela to Hlakudi. The Deputy Ombudsman, however, found News24 should have recorded Mawela’s contention that she did pay Hlakudi.
The errors are regretted, and News24 apologises to Mawela for same.
The Deputy Ombudsman dismissed several other complaints filed by Mawela, including for alleged breaches of Clause 1.8 and Section 3 of the Press Code, which included complaints that the article was not in the public interest and generally inaccurate.
Finally, the Deputy Ombudsman also dismissed complaints about comments on the article posted by News24 users.
Visit www.presscouncil.org.za for the full finding.
The corrected version of the article can be found here.
