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News24 apologises for and retracts the statement, published as fact, that former head of legal for Eskom Jerome Mthembu had terminated the mandate of Bowmans law firm to investigate corrupt allegations at Eskom against Econ Oil and Eskom’s former acting group chief executive, Matshela Koko.
The articles were published on 28 May 2021 and 5 June 2021.
We also apologise to Mthembu for not reflecting his version of events and for further breaches of the Press Code.
Mthembu denied in responses to News24 that he was ever involved in the Econ Oil investigation, and further denied that his actions in suspending Bowmans’s work was aimed at halting probes into Econ Oil.
News24 has previously reported on evidence at its disposal that shows Mthembu was involved in the suspension of Bowman’s mandate. However, a dispute arose around News24’s statements that this had also halted Econ Oil and ABB/Koko probes.
Following a complaint to the Press Ombudsman, Mthembu appealed an earlier ruling.
The Appeals Panel overturned a ruling by the Deputy Press Ombudsman in which Mthembu’s complaints regarding breaches of articles 1.1 and 1.3 of the Press Code for reporting as fact that he had halted the investigation into Econ Oil and ABB/Koko.
News24 was also previously found to have breached article 1.2 of the Press Code, in not reflecting Mthembu’s version. This was confirmed by the appeals panel.
News24 hereby retracts its factual statements that Mthembu halted investigations into Econ Oil and Koko/ABB and apologises to Mthembu for these breaches, which we regret.
The remainder of the articles, and News24’s reporting remain unaffected and unchallenged.
Visit www.prescouncil.org.za for the full finding.
