The statement by the ANC Youth League is reproduced below, verbatim:
“The ANC Youth League received a complaint written by a mob of political Journalists in what appears to be an organisation without a name. The complaint is on what they characterise as bullying by ANC Youth League Leadership, particularly the Spokesperson, Floyd Shivambu. The mob of Journalists made various allegations that the leadership of the ANC Youth League has threatened to expose their private information and as a result threatening the freedom of expression as enshrined in the Constitution.
“In their statement, the mob raises false alarms around a genuine case of alleged tax evasion and money laundering by City Press Journalist, Dumisani Lubisi. The ANC Youth League will never be retreat in its programme to expose the possible corruption and tax fraud of any person in South Africa and will do everything in its power to expose Millionaire Journalists, who do not pay tax and cannot explain how they accumulated their wealth. The complaint by the gang of Journalists is contrary to what they intentioned, an inspiration to pursue the case against potentially corrupt Journalists.
“The leadership of the ANC YL and its Spokespersons always speak on behalf of the organisation and any attempt to isolate the any leader/member of the organisation from the organisation with rejected with contempt. The ANC Youth League maintains the view that there are Journalists in South Africa who take bribes, corrupt, childish, racist, and unethical. This is a reflection of reality and there will never be any apology for making such a correct observation. No one will ever apologise for making such a truthful observation.
“Journalists in South Africa should begin to appreciate that the freedom of expression enshrined in the country's Constitution is not solely and exclusively for Journalists and media houses. The freedom of expression expands to all citizens, including the activists and leadership of political organisations. Journalists should also appreciate that they are citizens of South Africa before they are employees of various media houses. They therefore should stand up against all forms of corruption, fraud, racism and unethical behavioural patterns, even when it involves their colleagues in the profession.
“The mob of Journalists has also assisted the ANC Youth League to identify those who are real enemies of our organisation and what they stand for. These are people consistently write nonsense about the leadership of the ANC Youth League and they have now decided to club themselves into an undefined mob. We are aware that there are some who did not sign the petition who are enemies of the ANC Youth League and we will work very cautiously around these people. The fact that certain Journalists have signed and some did not reflects that those who have signed are the ones who have got a lot to hide and are scared that their underhand dealings, corruption, racism and unethical behaviour will be exposed.
“They must never expect any apology from the leadership of the ANC Youth League for standing up to principle. Because this mob is not properly defined, the ANC YL will never meet them as a group. Those that have concerns should arrange to meet the ANC Youth League one by one and raise their specific concerns.”
The newly formed Professional Journalists' Association (ProJourn) has condemned the ANCYL intimidation attempt…
”The Professional Journalists' Association condemns the attempt by ANCYL spokesperson Floyd Shivambu to intimidate journalists by threatening to reveal private information about them.
”The association supports the complaint that a group of political journalists has made against Shivambu and would like to reiterate their call, that if Shivambu has any proof of wrong doing on the parts of any journalists he should take it up with the relevant bodies - their editors, watchdog bodies, the Press Ombudsman (Joe Thloloe).
”According to the complaint, "Comments about their salaries, credit worthy status and sexual behaviour were made without a shred of evidence". The association condemns this in the strongest possible way. Defamation of members of the media is not acceptable, any more that it is acceptable for the media to defame anyone.
”Further, it is deeply concerning that the League may have private and confidential information about members of the media. And, as highlighted in the complaint, this raises the question of how the League got access to the information without behaving illegally.
”The dirty tricks played by the Apartheid government on the media (and others) are well known. That a body like the ANCYL should stoop to such behaviour is both ironic and horrific. This is a democratic country, which enshrined press freedom in its Constitution precisely to prevent the abuses of the previous regime being perpetuated again.
”The Professional Journalists' Association calls on all supporters of these hard-won freedoms to take up the fight again, to ensure these freedoms are not eroded and recent abuses are not repeated."
