| When the media lets state capture rogues peddle falsehoods

When the media lets state capture rogues peddle falsehoods

August 28, 2022

By Luvo Mnyobe

This is how democracy dies.

These were my thoughts as I scrolled through Twitter and saw a shameful video of Hlaudi Motsoeneng trying to humiliate senior SABC News journalist Francis Herd. Motsoeneng was appearing on Full View, a prime-time news programme, to give his view of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture’s final report, which focused on corruption and fraud at state-owned enterprises.

Less than a week after the Zondo commission report was released, the SABC invited Motsoeneng for a live interview. The broadcaster explained in its blurb on YouTube that it thought it wise to interview him because “he’s implicated; he’s willing to speak to us”.

But this reasoning is not enough to carry an interview with an individual implicated in state capture, especially by a public broadcaster that has a duty to provide quality and accurate news.

In the final volume of the Zondo commission report, Chief Justice Raymond Zondo found that controversial former SABC chief operating officer Motsoeneng, along with former SABC group CEO Lulama Makhobo, must be investigated with a view to possible criminal prosecution “for possible violation” of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA). This relates to a finding that the pair may have violated a part of the PFMA related to the SABC’s partnership with The New Age newspaper’s business breakfast briefings, which were platforms for prominent individuals.

Not much to add

The interview had little value other than to give Motsoeneng the opportunity to bully Herd and manipulate the facts. On numerous occasions during the interview, Motsoeneng suggests that he did her a favour by hiring her at the SABC. He suggests that she should thank him because her children are fed through his generosity of giving her the job when he was still in charge.

This attack was an attempt to silence Herd and to sully the crucial questions that he has to answer regarding his role in looting at the SABC.

As chief operating officer, Motsoeneng introduced a policy for the SABC not to broadcast “violent” protests in South Africa in 2016. At the time, the SABC 8 – a group of senior journalists who resisted the interference with their work – stood against these attempts to censor their news coverage and frustrate their journalistic independence. The journalists were victimised through continued intimidation and death threats. One example is of Suna Venter, who was shot in the face with a pellet gun, resulting in surgery to remove metal pellets from her face.

Manipulating Facts

At the beginning of the interview, Motsoeneng offers to lecture Herd on the PFMA. When she challenges him on this, he goes on to claim that Zondo did not write the commission’s report, suggesting that there is a third force that is attempting to tarnish his good name. This claim is baseless and should have been reason enough to cut the interview.

Continuing the broadcast of a live interview with a guest intent on dishing up falsehoods only serves to fuel misinformation. This is evident in the comments on Twitter and YouTube – where the clip has gone viral – that have been celebrating “proof” that journalists are spreading “propaganda” and not reporting on facts.

“He completely destroyed this so-called commentator,” said one viewer, referring to Herd. One can only imagine how many other viewers Motsoeneng managed to convince of his falsehoods.

Investigative Exposés

A few years ago, it was popular to say that it was the work of journalists that saved our democracy from being plunged into darkness. Through investigative exposés that resulted in things such the bringing to light of the Gupta brothers’ incriminating emails (known as the Gupta leaks), journalists helped lift the veil of secrecy that allowed the Guptas, emboldened by then president Jacob Zuma, to set up a parallel state in South Africa, enriching themselves and a few political elite along the way.

Today, broadcasters have seemingly abandoned their fierce and valiant effort to defend our democracy from those implicated in state capture. Many of those implicated in state capture have been offered unfettered access to broadcasters such as Newzroom Afrika, eNCA and SABC News to stain the tireless work done to unmask the criminal network that enabled state capture.

Motsoeneng is one of many implicated in state capture who have been given platforms by South African media. Former Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) CEO Lucky Montana was also given a platform on Full View to sanitise his image. Audaciously, he accused the Zondo commission of “failing to unite South Africans”. One wonders what the nearly 80% of commuters lost by Prasa think of his role in uniting South Africa.

Wanted: The State Capture Conspirators

In the latest investigative report by Open Secrets, a nonprofit organisation that tracks data on campaign finance and lobbying, titled Wanted: The State Capture Conspirators, we argue that the National Prosecuting Authority must prosecute Montana for possible violation of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act by accepting payments in relation to the Siyangena security systems contract.

The Zondo commission also found that he should be investigated and prosecuted for his role in the looting at Prasa. Instead of answering questions about his role, Montana went on a rampage, claiming that the commission’s report was destructive to South Africa.

Stop The Interview

In the coming months, President Cyril Ramaphosa will release his response to the commission. There is no doubt that many who are implicated will make the news. Broadcasters must use the time until then to frame how they will cover those implicated in state capture.

There is no reason for implicated parties known to be truth-averse to be given 30 minutes to ramble on live TV. Rather, they should be interviewed in a controlled environment, like a pre-recorded interview, and live interviews should be ended if the interviewee insists on spewing bile and falsehoods.

It should not be that the media uncritically participates in the rebranding of people who stand unaccountable for crimes due to lacklustre law enforcement. In the absence of real legal accountability from law enforcement, the media must hold these individuals to account. Doing so is an act of service that is mandatory to journalism.

Mnyobe is a campaigner at Open Secrets and a master’s candidate in journalism at Rhodes University. His research focuses on economic journalism and financial literacy programmes using self-representation on YouTube.