CAPE TOWN – The chairperson of the Sekunjalo Group, Dr Iqbal Survé, on Sunday slammed the Sunday Times for what he described as sensationalist reporting.
Survé said Tiso Blackstar publications, online and in print, over the last five years and especially the last few months had published countless defamatory articles on Sekunjalo companies.
“In almost all instances these articles are defamatory, without substance and taken out of context, with the sole intent of damaging my persona and that of the Sekunjalo group and the investee companies AEEI and AYO,” he said.
FULL SEKUNJALO STATEMENT:
Today, the Sunday Times which is part of the Tiso Blackstar group and a direct competitor of Independent Media, published a highly defamatory article about the Sekunjalo Group investee company AYO Technology Solutions.
Tiso Blackstar publications, online and in print, over the last 5 years and especially the last few months have published countless defamatory articles on Sekunjalo companies.
In almost all instances these articles are defamatory, without substance and taken out of context, with the sole intent of damaging my persona and that of the Sekunjalo group and the investee companies African Equity Empowerment Investments Limited ( AEEI) and AYO.
Sunday Times has recently been accused of having agendas in reference to fake news, for example, the Cator Manor, the SARS rogue unit stories and the editor has had to recently apologise for untruthful reporting.
The Sunday Times did not give the Sekunjalo investee companies, AYO and AEEI boards or management teams reasonable time to respond as is required by the press code. This is unreasonable and in violation of the press code and our constitutional right to fairness and accuracy in reporting.
The Sunday Times went ahead and published a one-sided sensationalist article, similar to what it did the week before.
The Sekunjalo Group companies will respond as follows:
- We will issue a comprehensive media statement dealing with each lie in the article by the latest Monday the 11th February.
- Once all the Sekunjalo group investee companies' group boards have met, we will call a national media conference to deal with these blatant lies and misrepresentations.