It is a Shakespearean tragedy that the good reputation of everyone is besmirched by this corporate greed, manipulation and fake news and a complete disregard for the true values of our young democracy by these rogue and paid-for journalists.

Iqbal Survé IOL19/10/2018

It is now clear that Rampedi never saw the babies or had proof of their birth, but solely relied on WhatsApp messages between Sithole and Tsotetsi to report as fact that they were born. This is reckless and irresponsible journalism of the highest order.

This entire episode ranks as one of the lowest points in the history of South African journalism. The failure of Rampedi and Independent Media to do basic fact-checking and verify grandiose statements before publication has undermined and damaged the entire journalistic profession.

Decuplets story a journalistic travesty SANEF15/6/2021

In October 2018 Iqbal Survé used the front pages of his newspapers and his IOL website to crow in triumph about the Sunday Times apology for the enormously-damaging journalism by its ‘Rogue Unit’ reporters. He accused the Sunday Times reporters of ‘manipulation’ and ‘fake news’ of ‘disregarding the true values of our young democracy’ and their employers of ‘corporate greed’.

Now, one of those reporters, Piet Rampedi, recently promoted editor of the Pretoria News, has brought South African journalism into disrepute not just here but all over the world and, to quote Survé’s 2018 attack on Rampedi’s previous employer, the Sunday Times,‘besmirched’ the ‘good reputation of everyone’ with his fake news articles about the so-called ‘Tembisa Ten’.

Anxious to draw attention away from his growing indebtedness to the Public Investment Corporation and the fact that he has been abandoned by Absa, and FNB and BDO and the UK’s BT Group and Sasol, Survé flew Rampedi and the father of the elusive decuplets to Cape Town for a photo opportunity.

He duly offered to contribute a million rand to ensure the future wellbeing of the hitherto-unseen babies.

One wonders what the response from his employees was to this charitable gesture because, according to Daily Maverick, they have recently been served with Section 189 retrenchment notices. Furthermore, a year ago, senior journalists had their salaries cut by 40% and the Sekunjalo pensioners were told that the company that is home to Survé Philanthropies was cutting its medical aid contributions to them by 50%.

As Marianne Thamm pointed out when the news broke that Survé had hired Piet Rampedi and Mzilikazi wa Afrika – the Sunday Times journalists whose reporting  Iqbal Survé had previously excoriated -they have not availed themselves of existing fora to clear their names:

Many have suggested that the only way for Rampedi and Wa Afrika to defend their conduct at the Sunday Times was to appear at either the Nugent or the Zondo Commission. They have not taken up the challenge.

Here are some dots which might raise questions about Rampedi’s rapid rise within Sekunjalo Independent Media.

  • In October 2019 the Inspector General of Intelligence (IGI), Setlhomamaru Dintwe confirms that Rampedi and Mzilikazi wa Afrika are being investigated for their ‘Rogue Unit’ stories which played a decisive role in the evisceration of SARS. This was part of the State Capture project which cost the country about R1.5 trillion;
  • In September 2020, Anton Harber publishes his book So, For the Record – Behind the Headlines in an Era of State Capture in which he provides conclusive, unchallenged evidence that Piet Rampedi was collaborating with Tom Moyane to bring about the defenestration and eventual capture of SARS;
  • Despite this, Iqbal Survé appointed Piet Rampedi editor of the Pretoria News in February this year;
  • On 8 June, as editor of the Pretoria News, Piet Rampedi breaks the news of his ‘scoop’ on the front page under the headline Exclusive: Gauteng woman gives birth to 10 children, breaks Guinness World Record.

In October 2018, Iqbal Survé used his newspapers and his IOL website to complain about the ‘deep rotten culture’ of which Piet Rampedi was part at the Sunday Times.

Now, as Anton Harber points out, Piet Rampedi is part of the deep, rotten culture at Sekunjalo Independent Media, what he calls the ‘Fox News of South Africa’:

One has to be reminded that others – notably Iqbal Survé’s Sekunjalo Independent group – have gone completely rogue, opting out of all industry attempts to self-regulate and deal with these issues. The Sunday Times is at least capable of being shamefaced, whereas Survé has gone out to hire and promote the journalists who were responsible for some of the most shameful episodes of our journalism in recent years. His operation is now the Fox News of South Africa, deliberately spreading misinformation in pursuit of his political and business interests.

Instead of acknowledging what the father who was responsible for the pregnancy of Gosiame Sithole has acknowledged – that the Tembisa Ten doesn’t total ten – Piet Rampedi has doubled down.

Now, he would have us believe, he is the victim of a giant plot involving several hospitals all co-ordinated by the evil Department of Health

The Sithole decuplets, he would now have us believe, do exist but are being hidden from the world:

In a statement released on Wednesday, Independent Media, which initiated a private investigation into the birth of the decuplets following denials by government officials, said the story was not fake news but a cover-up of mammoth proportions.

This is true to form.

On 12 May, the man who attended the Brett Kebble funeral and the Gupta wedding and his managers told parliament’s disbelieving oversight committee on finance that they were the victims of ‘dark forces’ and ‘thick white substances’ – all coordinated by the iniquitous  ‘Pravin cabal’ which, we are led to believe, includes the judiciary  and the Public Investment Corporation in its evil membership.

His supporters believe him.

The Deputy Minister of Finance was unconvinced.

What has not been explained is why no other media company is experiencing this pernicious persecution, these vile plots.

There are, however, some certainties in this sorry saga.

The companies which have cut themselves loose from Survé’s sphere of influence in the past two years must be watching Piet Rampedi’s Sekunjalo-supported somersaults with a profound sense of relief. 

In January 2015, Helen Zille wrote an open letter to Iqbal Survé expressing her concern about the way in which he was turning Sekunjalo Independent Media into a ‘media capture’ project.

In October 2018, as a response to Survé’s attack on the ‘deep rotten culture’ at the Sunday Times of which Piet Rampedi was part, Zille wrote that his criticism was ironic given that he was the person who had ‘put news manipulation on steroids’.

Her 2018 claim of ‘news manipulation on steroids’ has now been vindicated – with the help of Piet Rampedi.

contributor

Ed Herbst is an author and veteran journalist.