The editorial staff over at The Cape Times are becoming increasingly worried that their editorial independence is under threat.

It all started when Cape Times editor, Alide Dasnois, was fired unexpectedly by the paper’s new owners, Sekunjalo Independent Media.

The Cape Times’s editorial staff said in a statement:

We, the overwhelming majority of editorial staff of the Cape Times, wish to register our deep anger and protest at the dismissal of our esteemed editor Alide Dasnois.

The staff’s concern, from the sequence of events, is that the new owners of the newspaper, Sekunjalo Independent Media, are attempting to compromise the editorial independence of the Cape Times.

If this is so, this is a direct threat to the standing and independence of this proud newspaper.

Iqbal Surve, though, dismisses these claims and said he remained “fully committed” to  the editorial independence of all the journalists and editors.

“Ms Dasnois was not fired,” he claims.

When she was removed as executive editor she was offered various other positions in the company to which I still await a response.

He was responding to concerns voiced by the SA National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) and Cape Town Press Club that Dasnois may have been fired after the newspaper ran a story on Friday which painted Sekunjalo in a negative light.

The story was about an alleged dodgy-awarding of a fisheries tender by the agriculture, forestry, and fisheries department to Sekunjalo Marine Services Consortium.

The consortium is a subsidiary of Sekunjalo Holdings who acquired a controlling share in INMSA earlier this year.

The move echoes the kind of actions taken by Vladimir Putin, who is tightening his grip on the media in an effort to control his public image, and reassert his authority in Russia after recent protests.

He recently dissolved the main state news agency and replaced it with an organization mandated to promote Moscow’s image abroad.

Sound a bit familiar, Sekunjalo Holdings?

[Source : Times Live, Reuters]