Patta says it doesn't matta

2003-05-11 21:57

Gerjo Hoffman

Cape Town - Award-winning investigative journalist and news anchor of e.tv news, Deborah Patta, 38, denied media reports on Sunday that she is receiving death threats.

Patta, presenter of "3rd Degree" said she has not received death threats since November last year.

At the time, she was threatened after the broadcast of a documentary programme on the conflict in the Middle East.

She said she receives several e-mails and telephone calls every day from people who either like or dislike what she does or says.

"It is the nature of the work that I do. We are not there to please people, but to be investigative journalists. We do not serve the government, institutions or people in powerful positions, but rather the public," Patta said.

Callers to a radio station branded Patta as a racist last week. This followed her programme on Tuesday in which she exposed corrupt doctors.

"The programme dealt with corrupt doctors and not with race. It focused on a black empowerment company that has lost money because of fraud committed by these doctors over the past two years.

"If the doctors were white, we would probably have received complaints from whites," she said.

"I believe South Africa is a race-sensitive society and this is not necessarily wrong.

"We ought to be on the lookout for racism, but we should also be careful of playing the race card - especially when it has nothing to do with the case," she added.

- Die Burger