ANCYL spin doctor slams journos

2010-03-17 10:40

Hlengiwe Mnguni

Cape Town - ANC Youth League spokesperson Floyd Shivambu says journalists who have accused him of threatening to make their details of their personal lives public are cowards for not making their identity public.

"Who are they?" he said when asked for comment. "If they don't want to come out and say who they are, then they are stupid."

"How am I supposed to know that you are not lying to me?" he said to News24.

Shivambu refused to say whether or not he has ever made threats to journalists.

Reporters lodge complaint

Eyewitness News earlier reported that its reporters and those from Business Day, Independent Newspapers, The Mail & Guardian, The Times and Sunday Times, City Press, Media24 and e-News had lodged an official complaint against the ANCYL spin doctor after he had threatened to make the details of their personal lives public.

The youth league has been involved in a face-off with City Press newspaper after it circulated the financial details of the paper's investigations editor Dumisani Lubisi. The ANCYL alleged that Lubisi might be involved in tax fraud and money laundering and raised its suspicions that he was living beyond his means.

"This justifies our observation that journalists take bribes and additional money that they cannot explain so that they write bad stories about certain individuals," the league said earlier this week.

Sanef objects

South African National Editors Forum (Sanef) deputy chairperson for media freedom, Raymond Louw, told News24 that they "object strongly to threats of this kind",

“We are satisfied, although there may be cases of misconduct as in every other profession, that the majority of journalists act in an ethical manner.

“Threats of this kind will only cause further tensions between the ANCYL and the media. Should they have a complaint against a journalist, they should rather go to the editor or the police instead of making baseless threats,” he added.