Pule apologises to Sunday Times: lawyer
The Sunday Times has reported (5 May 2013) that the lawyer of embattled communications minister Dina Pule has been sent to apologise for her claims made against the news publication.
On 22 April, Dina Pule called a press conference to allege that The Sunday Times was playing a role in a plot to blackmail her around decisions on the multi-billion-Rand tender for production of set-top-boxes needed for South Africa’s migration to digital TV.
Less than 24 hours after the press conference, the Sunday Times reports that Pule’s lawyer, Ronnie Bokwa was sent to apologise for the claims, at the behest of communications department deputy general director Themba Phiri.
“He told me things were placed in the public space by the minister that should not have been placed in the public domain. We have wronged the Sunday Times,” said Bokwa.
According to Sunday Times journalist Mzilikazi Wa Afrika, Bokwa contacted him the day following Pule’s press conference to broker a “peace process”. Wa Afrika reports that he asked if Bokwa had been sent to propose an apology and retraction from Pule. Bokwa responded: “This was my perception of what my mandate was.”
The Sunday Times journalists accused by Pule – Mzilikazi Wa Afrika, Stephan Hofstatter, and Rob Rose – have requested that Pule publicly retract false allegations, come clean about what happened at an off-the-record meeting with Wa Afrika on 19 June 2012, and admit she has been spreading malicious rumours about the Sunday Times investigation team to politicians and journalists (including a senior member of the South African Editors Forum (SANEF). Pule was also asked to apologise in person to the journalists she accused.
Since this meeting with Bokwa, the Sunday Times reports that Pule has scheduled and subsequently missed two meetings with the publication’s investigation team. Following the second missed meeting on 27 Arpil 2013 (at which Phiri arrived to apologise for the minister), Bokwa said he did not know why the minister did not attend, and has no further instruction from Pule.
The Sunday Times has sent a lawyer’s letter to Pule reiterating its demand for proof of her allegations, or a public withdrawal and apology. She has been given until Friday, 10 May to respond.
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