Boycott Gupta media, says DA

COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT SPENDS CLOSE TO R1M ON MEDIA BREAKFAST ‘Captured ANC government props them up with taxpayers’ rands.’

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has called for a boycott of all Gupta-owned media in South Africa. “The department of communication spent close to R1 million on a single Gupta media breakfast briefing in May last year, a reply to DA parliamentary questions has revealed,” DA communications spokesperson Phumzile van Damme said in a statement yesterday.

Van Damme said that in his response to the question, Communications Minister Ayanda Dlodlo confirmed that the department had spent R988 689.84 on a single business breakfast briefing, which was held on May 26, 2016, organised by Gupta-owned newspaper The New Age (TNA).

“It is not a secret the Gupta-owned TNA is propped up by the millions it receives from government departments and state-owned companies that sponsor its breakfast briefings, buy in bulk copies of its newspaper and spend disproportionately on adverts in the newspaper.”

Van Damme listed a number of recent examples which included the Free State Provincial Government spending more than R4 million on TNA in 2016, the SABC spending almost R1 million on subscriptions to TNA, as well as the communications department spending R10 million on advertising in the same paper in 2015.

“It has become clear that not only TNA, but also ANN7, are nothing more than Gupta and pro-Zuma propaganda mouthpieces, surviving on the rands of South Africa’s taxpayers. It is no longer conscionable to fund this propaganda,” she said.

“We call on South Africans to see all Gupta-media for what it is: Gupta mouthpieces defending the capture of our state.”

Van Damme called on South Africans to discern the “fake Gupta news” from real news.

“As the Gupta Media continues to spew fake news aimed at