Sunday Times

MATTER OF FACT

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THE Sunday Times retracts a statement that former Eskom CEO Brian Molefe claimed he had been visiting a shebeen in Saxonwold, rather than the Gupta compound.

Molefe complained to the press ombud about the statement, which was made in “From Saxonwold shebeen to MP”, published on January 29. The story concerned a move by the ANC in North West to add Molefe to a list of ANC members it wanted in parliament, which would make him eligible to be sworn in as an MP. He was in fact sworn in as an MP just over three weeks later.

In our reporting, we made reference to Molefe’s comments in response to the public protector’s State of Capture report, which noted 58 calls between Molefe and Atul Gupta, and which found that cellphone records placed Molefe in Saxonwold around the time of the controvers­ial Tegeta-Optimum deal. By way of explaining his presence in Saxonwold, Molefe later stated: “My cellphone reflects that I was in Saxonwold 14 times . . . There’s a shebeen there, two streets away from the Guptas. I will not admit or deny that I’ve gone to the shebeen.”

Although we carried this quote in the story, ombud Johan Retief found it was too far apart in the article to qualify the much earlier (incorrect) statement that Molefe claimed that he had visited the shebeen.

Visit www.presscounc­il.org.za for the full ruling.

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