ANCYL demands meeting with Sowetan

2011-08-02 08:52

Johannesburg - The ANC Youth League has requested a meeting with the "rightwing" Sowetan newspaper to demand an explanation for firing columnist Eric Miyeni.

"The ANCYL will soon seek a meeting with those who terminated the column to get an explanation on their application of principles, because they are simply out of line and abominable," African National Congress Youth League spokesperson Floyd Shivambu said in a statement.

City Press editor Ferial Haffajee on Monday said she was planning to sue Miyeni after he called her "an agent for white capitalists" in a scathing column.

Titled, "Haffajee does it for white masters", Miyeni says that "in the 80s she'd [Haffajee] probably have had a burning tyre around her neck".

"Who the devil is she anyway if not a black snake in the grass, deployed by white capital to sow discord among blacks?"

Haffajee said she took these comments quite seriously.

The Sowetan said on Monday evening that it had discontinued Miyeni's column with immediate effect.

"The decision to terminate Eric Miyeni’s contract is clearly not an independent decision, but influenced by the right-wing elements who determine the direction of the Sowetan," Shivambu said.

- SAPA