ANCYL slams opposition to Manyi deal as ‘anti-black’

THE ANC Youth League (ANCYL) has slammed opposition to the sale of Gupta-owned ANN7 and The New Age to Mzwanele Manyi, labelling those who opposed it “anti-black success and progress”.

Yesterday the youth league came out strongly denouncing existing media houses and political parties for “efforts to defame Manyi and sabotage the sale”.

Mandla Shange, ANCYL provincial spokesperson, said the EFF had openly declared that Manyi had not bought the two media houses from the Gupta families and it was a deal between Manyi and the controversial family.

“The DA has also questioned the issue and aligned it to state capture, saying the Guptas were now running away because of the possible outcome of the state capture investigation.

“We think it’s just them not wanting to see a black person succeeding and progressing and that makes them want to sabotage this deal,” Shange said.

He said everybody knew that Manyi was a businessman and that he had made attempts at purchasing other businesses before and was therefore not new in business.

On whether Manyi was just a front for the Guptas, Shange said: “We have no evidence of such and as a result we are denouncing that.”

Shange said the youth league had always complained about the slow progress towards transformation and that the media was still dominated by whites.

“We know that the environment he is entering into is seriously dominated by whites and we hope this will be a step towards the transformation,” Shange said.

He called upon all other black businesses who had an interest in media to follow suit.

The ANC also weighed in on the matter, as the party congratulated Lodidox and Management for its acquisition of the media outlets.

“We remain committed to preserving the cordial and constructive relationship with the new owners of these media institutions.

Concern

“As declared in the January 8, 2017 statement, ‘The ANC is unwavering in our defence of freedom of the press and the media, likewise, should report fairly and factually’,” said the ANC in a statement.

DA spokesperson Phumzile van Damme said the party was concerned about the sale of ANN7 and The New Age to Manyi, “given the fact” that Manyi was a “complete and utter ANC hack”.

“He will sink ANN7 and TNA’s already poor quality even lower.

“Another concern for us is the fact TNA, in particular, appears to be propped up by government funding.

“Manyi will likely facilitate even more government funding for TNA and ANN7,” Van Damme said.

She said that the DA would be giving some thought to how to remedy this and would announce its plan of action in due course.