Five days after a report on state- funded upgrades to South African President Jacob Zuma’s private home, one of his ministers attempted to influence news coverage at the country’s only private free-to-air television station, according to a lawsuit.
“I got a call from Minister Patel today,” Yunis Shaik, a director of the company that controls e.tv, said in a March 24 e-mail to suspended Hosken Consolidated Investments Ltd. Chairman Marcel Golding, according to court filings by the executive aimed at overturning his suspension. “He says that President Zuma this day opened a new dam. He wants us to cover it tonight. As this is a big story, it might be a good lead story.”
The e-mail, referring to South African Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel, is attached to court papers filed yesterday by e.tv Chief Executive Officer Marcel Golding. Golding says his opposition to political influence over the station’s news agenda is the real reason he has been suspended as executive chairman of Hosken Consolidated Investments Ltd., the Cape Town-based investment company which controls the T.V. company.
In the papers Golding said “he was unwilling to compromise on the issue of independence and integrity of editorial content.”
Hosken said yesterday Golding had been suspended for gross misconduct of a “very serious nature” -- a decision that’s being legally challenged by the executive and co-founder. According to Golding’s labor-court application, Hosken said Golding was suspended for asking Investec Ltd. to buy 24 million rand ($2.19 million) worth of shares in television equipment company Ellies Holdings Ltd. on behalf of Hosken unit Sabido Investments (Pty) Ltd., of which he is the chief executive officer.
