SA media’s lack of sophistication keeps ‘reachable secrets as secrets’ - EFF

The South African media is behind the curve on state capture. And its reflections on the topic are “largely as a follow-up to the factual reflections the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) gave on the Gupta family’s influence”‚ the party’s deputy president said on Wednesday.

Floyd Shivambu‚ in an opinion piece entitled “ON STATE CAPTURE: Ideological Reflections!”‚ said: “There are of course so many Gupta undue capture and influences on many aspects and parts of the state‚ but South African media’s lack of sophistication and utterly sluggish investigative capacity keep what are reachable secrets as secrets.”

As “most parts of the media represent fractions of capital”‚ Shivambu argued that there is reluctance to utilise the “adequate legislative framework that can guarantee ordinary South Africans and the media access to crucial information”.

Shivambu quoted just one example of his party scooping the media.

He cited the case of short-tenured finance minster Des van Rooyen reportedly arriving “with advisors at the National Treasury and that a contingent of National Treasury staff members almost resigned” as being “first made public by the EFF‚ and media caught up very late”.

He did‚ however‚ vow: “There are still many revelations we are going to make about the Gupta corruption‚ and we will do so at the right time and moments.”

Later in the essay‚ Shivambi returned to the “legislation that guarantees media access to information”‚ saying “credible sections of the media should have identified and quantified the numbers of contracts Guptas companies and subsidiaries have with the state”.

This‚ he argued‚ “must be revealed because there has never been one single business empire in South Africa that monopolises state contracts in the manner the Gupta family has done”.

Shivambu’s “reflections” came hours after Gupta-owned media ANN7 and The New Age agreed to apologise to the African National Congress over coverage of the party’s national executive committee meeting at the weekend.

"The NEC expressed its utmost disgust at the arrogance‚ disrespect and reckless journalism displayed by the New Age newspaper [March 18-19]‚ ANN7 news channel [March 16-18] and representatives of the Gupta family‚" secretary-general Gwede Mantashe had told reporters on Sunday.