SANEF, Moti respond to variation of court order on leaked documents

The South African National Editors Forum (SANEF) has welcomed the issuing of a variation of a court order in amaBhungane’s reporting on the Moti Group.

The High Court in Johannesburg issued a variation of the order on Saturday that amaBhungane return thousands of the Moti Group’s leaked documents.

In terms of the variation, amaBhungane does not have to hand over the documents at this stage, but it also cannot write and release further articles at this time based on the material.

Investigative journalists at amaBhungane had used the leaked Moti Group documents to produce a series of stories about the company’s alleged ties with Zimbabwe’s ruling elite.

SANEF’s Gauteng Convenor, Dr Glenda Daniels, says the protection of whistle-blowers in the media industry is paramount in exposing corruption.

Altered documents

Meanwhile, businessman Zunaid Moti says he doesn’t understand why amaBhungane’s reporting about him and the Moti Group is in the public interest.

The Moti Group says it has reason to believe that former legal assistant, Clinton van Niekerk significantly altered the documents that were leaked to amaBhungane.