The Sunday World is demanding an apology from Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe over his statement that he paid two of its journalists not to publish a story over his alleged extramarital affair with a student.
Mantashe has since retracted the claims saying he never actually paid the money but did not deny making the statement to the newspaper.
The publication says it has suffered reputation damage due to the claim. Sunday World editor Makhudu Sefara says the damage to credibility not only affects its journalists but the media industry as a whole.
“Mantashe has not provided substance to his claims. There was a meeting between Sanef and the minister; in that meeting I did make it clear to the minister that in as much as people might believe that we sell newspapers, the thing that we actually really sell is the integrity of the news process, is the credibility of the newspaper, it is the reputation that the newspaper is built on, and what the minister did by making that claim that he is now backtracking on he essentially attempted to kill our newspaper. There’s an apology that is due to the entire media industry.”
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