ANN7 boots out journalist

In the ongoing staff debacle at television station ANN7, a leading political reporter was "frog-marched" out of its offices yesterday.

Asanda Magaqa, a senior political reporter and host of the now defunct media monitoring show, Between the Lines, was fired yesterday.

Magaqa, who refused to speak to The Times, was informed of her dismissal at the start of a disciplinary hearing at the channel's offices in Midrand. According to an ANN7 insider, Magaqa was accused of recruiting staff to join the Communication Workers Union.

In a WhatsApp message, ANN7 general manager Quraysh Patel said: "It is not company policy to respond to the media about disciplinary matters related to an employee. If an employee is of the view that the company has acted unfairly in effecting the dismissal, the employee has the right to seek recourse in terms of the ... provisions provided for in the Labour Relations Act."

A source at the hearing said: "Witnesses were meant to be called, but instead when she walked in, the chairman was sitting with a copy of the Sunday World and Sunday Times, which had carried articles about the staffing situation at the channel.

"She was told she had spoken to the newspapers, had been found guilty and was being dismissed, all before the conclusion of the hearing. She was given no opportunity to even say whether it was her who had spoken to the newspapers."

The source said security then "frog-marched" her out of the building.

The station's news anchor, Chantal Rutter Dros, told the Sunday Times she would be leaving the channel on December 3, due to "personal reasons".