Peter Bruce begrudgingly ‘apologises’ for his unsubstantiated slander
Over a week ago now, the Sunday Times columnist Peter Bruce offered an explanation for his suggestions that the Executive Mayor of the City of Johannesburg, Councillor Herman Mashaba had allowed himself to be manipulated into making certain decisions by the EFF.
A couples of weeks earlier, on 19 May 2019, Bruce wrote an opinion piece in which he stated “He [Mashaba] has allowed the EFF to influence contracts and appointments…”
Mashaba said he took “exception” to Bruce’s assertion.
In response, the Mayor issued a statement, in which he wrote: “To state that I would allow the EFF to influence contracts flies in the face of my commitment to serve the residents of Johannesburg and erodes their trust in me as their Mayor. It also flies in the face of this multi-party government’s zero-tolerance approach to corruption and undermines the very real work this government has done in exposing and rooting out corruption.
“I believe political leaders who contend that allegations made against them are false, must challenge them in order to uphold the integrity of the office they hold.
He added: “This is precisely why I wrote to Peter Bruce openly and required him to apologise and retract his statement or face me in court over a defamation case.”
Bruce sought to explain his comments in a follow-up op-ed piece, saying: “He [Mashaba] has misconstrued this as me accusing him of corruption. I'm afraid I can't retract or apologise, but maybe I can help by making it clear that I do not regard Mashaba as dishonest or corrupt”.
Mayor Mashaba, who reiterated his unequivocal support for press freedom, said he did not appreciate “the political slander that passes for editorial”.
The Mayor said that as a result of the commitment of the multi-party government, which he leads, to combat fraud and corruption, the City of Johannesburg’s forensics unit has investigated over 5, 000 cases totalling more than R33 billion in government expenditure.
He said: “The institutionalised looting that took place in Johannesburg was presided over by the previous political leadership, many of whom are implicated themselves. As a City, we are having to go to extraordinary lengths to force the NPA and law enforcement agencies to ensure the politically connected see their day in court.
“Bruce hero-worships this party of looters, while at the same time lamenting the level of corruption in our country. This is an irony that clearly escapes him while he slanders those who combat corruption.
I will direct my attention to the more productive task of ensuring that the corrupt are arrested, prosecuted and civilly pursed for all public monies taken.”
