Manyi lashes out at Jane Dutton for ‘racist apartheid’ interview

African Transformation Movement (ATM) head of strategy Mzwanele Manyi took to Twitter to slam eNCA talk-show host Jane Dutton after he was unhappy with what he described as “attempted humiliation disguised as an interview” when he was a guest on her show.

Manyi was one of two businessman-turned-politicians who appeared on Tonight with Jane Dutton on Monday, the other being African Content Movement (ACM) leader and former SABC chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

The former Afro Worldview and Afro Voice owner said the interview reminded him of “racist apartheid days”, adding that he believed Dutton “was more interested in embarrassing” her two interview subjects than hearing about their parties.

Manyi then accused Dutton of practising “embedded Stratcom type journalism”.

This attempted humiliation by Jane Dutton disguised as an interview reminded me RACIST APARTHEID days.
This woman was more interrested in embarrasing us than hearing about our parties.
She epitomises exactly what is WRONG with embedded STRATCOM type journalism. Shame on J Dutton. https://t.co/eqVcTvL97b

— Mzwanele Manyi (@MzwaneleManyi) April 8, 2019

Feedback from other users on Twitter described Dutton’s interview style as “condescending”, “rude”, and “patronising”.

A smaller amount of users directed their feedback towards the two interview subjects, describing them as “crooks” and Motsoeneng in particular as “out of touch” and a “clown”.

https://twitter.com/AyandaMdluli28/status/1115491220766232576

https://twitter.com/Azania_Mzansi/status/1115388500575178754

This woman is so rude #TonightWithJaneDutton

— Sweedite 🥀 (@16_Amo10) April 8, 2019

Such a terrible interview, she was just annoyingly rude #TonightWithJaneDutton

— khoisan Sonti (@khoisan2) April 8, 2019

#TonightWithJaneDutton i think you are patronizing these gentlemen. The way you ask your question is degrading. pic.twitter.com/cUgFQITzRl

— Sifundo (@Msifundo1984) April 8, 2019

#TonightWithJaneDutton it’s important for us to listen to the people invited to come sell their idea. It’s not about #eNCA and their problem with the leaders. Allow them to sell their parties

— Lister Sibuyi (@NkatekoSibs) April 8, 2019

Dear @SAEditorsForum @hlatseentle i really hope you deal with Jane Dutton from @eNCA thats not journalism at all, its disgusting what happened #TonightWithJaneDutton

Sir @MzwaneleManyi i hope you follow up with this,
Thank for you standing up to this nonsense.

— Viwe Pobana (@Viwe_Pobana) April 8, 2019

https://twitter.com/AyandaDavidson/status/1115321923410583554

These 2 crooks are giving @janedutton problems 🤣🤣🤣. Hlaudi is a clown! #tonightwithjanedutton

— Lethabo🖖 (@CheetahPlains) April 8, 2019

Stratcom was a group within the apartheid government that was specifically tasked to create and carry out disinformation campaigns.

The term has since been adopted by some as a term to refer to the media as a whole. It was recently used in press releases by both the EFF, who alleged that a war is being waged against the party by journalists, and the ANC, who accused investigative journalist Pieter Louis-Myburgh of having written a “typical Stratcom style fake-news book”, referring to the newly released Gangster State – Unravelling Magashule’s Web of Capture.

The phrase reentered the South African lexicon last year after the EFF launched accusations against two journalists, Thandeka Gqubule and Anton Harber, after Winnie Madikizela-Mandela mentioned them in an interview, saying they “actually did the job for Stratcom”.

READ MORE: Mzwanele Manyi announces why he has joined the ATM

This led to the EFF issuing a statement accusing the two journalists of being Stratcom spies, which led to the party being taken to court, which resulted in an order calling on the party to prove the accusations or withdraw them within a week.

While the EFF said they had simply repeated what Madikizela-Mandela said, Gqubule and Harber took legal action against the party.

Madikizela-Mandela herself never overtly alleged that the pair were spies or on the payroll of the apartheid government. She was probably implying that, from her perspective, they had unwittingly been duped into spreading a narrative that suited the apartheid state.

(Background reporting, Vhahangwele Nemakonde)

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