#FakeNewsFriedman: There’s no plot against the EFF – Stratcom
The media has denied that it plans to dredge up issues such as the VBS Bank scandal, the On Point Engineering Scandal, the Adriano Mazzotti funding debacle or the Malema-allegedly-shooting-a-gun-in-the-air situation in the run-up to elections.
Picture: Screenshot.
EFF leader Julius Malema this week warned party members of an alleged strategy on the part of the “establishment” who Malema claims has instructed “Stratcom” to reuse old stories meant to discredit EFF leaders in the next three weeks.
A spokesperson for the Stratcom Agents National Editor’s Forum, who chose to remain anonymous, denied that this was the case.
“We can confirm that we have received no instructions to bring up stories relating to past scandals involving the party.”
For example, there are no plans to bring up the party’s alleged involvement in the looting of VBS Bank, he said.
There would be no reason for media to highlight, out of the blue, how the party has been accused of receiving more than R1.8 million as part of what has been described as the “looting” of VBS Bank, with R430,000 allegedly channelled into a property owned by Malema, he added.
Another old story that Stratcom said they definitely had no plans to mention in the coming weeks was the On Point Engineering scandal, which saw Malema accused of directly benefiting from the irregular awarding of a tender back in 2012.
According to the spokesperson, the media has an obligation to show it isn’t engaged in attempts at discrediting the EFF, which is why, in his opinion, references to the funding the party has received from alleged cigarette smuggler Adriano Mazzotti should not just gratuitously be dropped into articles in South African mainstream media publications.
“I think the alleged firing of live ammunition on Malema’s part at a birthday celebration for the party is definitely also among the things the media has a duty and responsibility not to just randomly bring up,” he said.
Asked what other things the media has no plan to mention in the coming weeks, he mentioned the EFF’s attacks on journalists, a video in which Malema appeared to be drunk, and the time Ndlozi allegedly shouted at his mother when he was seven.
The establishment was not available for comment.
NOTE: This is satire, not serious news, and was originally published every Thursday. It is now published either on a Thursday or on one of the other six days of the week.
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