Staff Reporter
Premier Sisi Ntombela’s office has accused a local newspaper of doing a hatchet job on her after the publication alleged she was “purging” senior provincial government officials believed to be aligned to her predecessor Ace Magashule.
The claims were made in a story published by The Weekly on Friday.
In a statement released on Monday, the Office of the Premier dismissed the article as “misleading and inaccurate”.
“This is nothing but a gross fabrication intended to mislead the people of the province and also seeks to drive a wedge between both Mr Magashule and Premier Ntombela,” the statement said.
“We wish to state for the record that the Premier has not ‘purged’ nor does she intend doing so to any official of the Free State provincial government.”
Magashule, who was the Free State premier from 2009 to 2018, is now serving as the ANC’s national secretary general.
The statement claimed the newspaper had not given Ntombela’s office an opportunity to respond to the allegations made in the story.
“In a rush to publish lies and exaggerations disguised as ‘news’, The Weekly disregarded the number one rule of journalism: which is offering the other party, in this case the Office of the Premier, a right of response,” it said.
The statement went further to claim the same newspaper was allegedly on a mission to discredit Ntombela.
“While disappointed, we are not entirely surprised by this newspaper’s conduct, which for some time has been on a crusade to tarnish the image of Premier Ntombela and those closest to her,” it said.
The Office of the Premier gave another article published by The Weekly the previous week – which implicated Ntombela’s husband in a “dodgy deal” at Mafube Local Municipality where he was mayor – as another example of the hatchet job the publication was allegedly doing on the premier.
“The type of slander, disguised as journalism by the newspaper, does nothing but blemishes the noble profession of journalism,” Ntombela’s office said.
“Premier Ntombela fought for and is a fierce supporter of a free press,” it added.
“However, it has now become increasingly clear that The Weekly are intent on attacking Premier Ntombela for reasons only known to them.
“Premier Ntombela is firmly focused on improving the quality of life of the people and will not be distracted by false reportage or anything else.”