EDITOR’S MOVE TO FIRE SCRIBE DESERVES PRAISE

WE OFTEN don’t write about colleagues from other media houses in this column, but today we make an exception – in the name of ethical journalism.

On Sunday, the editor of the Sunday World, Wally Mbhele, wrote an over 700-word column about his paper’s dismissal of a senior journalist, for soliciting a bribe from a municipality.

To cut a long story short, the Sunday World’s former assignments editor Aubrey Mothombeni had contacted senior officials at Matjhabeng Municipality (Welkom) and demanded a bribe to keep a story about corruption at the municipality under wraps.

He subsequently met officials, through an intermediary, where he demanded R1 million for the story to go away. The officials recorded Mothombeni making the offer and demanding the bribe, which they reported to his company’s superiors.

He was subsequently disciplined and, despite offering his resignation, he was dismissed.

Hopefully, a complaint has been lodged with the SAPS, and Mothombeni is charged with corruption.

Mbhele should be applauded for the action he took against one of his own, whereas the first instinct of others would have been to shield corrupt rogues in their newsrooms from scrutiny. This incident also points to the fact that the culture of corruption has seeped through South Africa's society, that even those who should know better fall into the trap of easy money.

Journalism can only hold those in power to account, when journalists are ethical and beyond reproach.

For too long, journalism’s bad apples have been recycled, while their ethical breaches have been glossed over.

Such was the case with former Daily Maverick columnist Ranjeni Munusamy, whose name came up at the State Capture Commission of Inquiry, as someone who had allegedly received funds from the SAPS crime intelligence slush fund.

Instead of cross-examining the evidence implicating her, Munusamy laid low until she emerged in February, as one of Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s senior officials. In February, we heard evidence of journalists who were on the State Security Agency's payroll. If the government is serious about rooting out corruption, South Africans must know the names of the wolves, dressed as sheep.