The ruling party’s Zizi Kodwa said he had made good on Tuesday’s threat to take the Sunday Times to the press ombudsman over its story titled “How the Guptas shopped for Finance Minister”.
He said the ANC wants an apology “published prominently in the next edition of the paper”.
“It is an insult to the readers of Sunday Times‚ who expecting to see facts in the reporting of the paper‚ are confronted with dodgy disclaimers such as ‘said to have been’ and ‘believed to have called’ despite the vehement denial of the individual implicated in the story‚” said Kodwa.
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The newspaper’s report added to earlier claims that deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas was approached by the Gupta family and offered the top Treasury job‚ by alleging ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte had also offered Jonas the position when he turned down the businessmen.
Kodwa said: “We remain convinced that the story sought to undermine the authority of the President of the Republic of South Africa‚ Comrade Jacob Zuma and impugn the reputation of the DSG by entrenching a narrative of an ANC leadership controlled by the Gupta family.
“The attempt to drag the name of (Duarte) to support the so-called story and presenting as fact what could not reasonably have been true is in contravention of the Press Code.
“The ANC therefore will be demanding that the Sunday Times apologies (sic) to the deputy secretary-general‚ Comrade Jessie Duarte and the organisation.”
Sunday Times editor Bongani Siqoko on Monday said the paper “stands by its story” in response to threats of legal action by the ruling party against it.
Siqoko added that every person mentioned in the report “was given an opportunity to tell us his or her side of the story”.
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