I guess we also owe JZ an apology, but I think we’ll take the Mail & Guardian’s stance on this one.

Following a sanction by the Press Ombudsman, which stated that they owe JZ a front page apology, M & G have decided to stick to their guns and appeal the decision.

The Ombudsman ruling was handed down on the basis of a headline last month: “Zuma pals score first nuke deal – When debate still rages about the nuclear build programme, a tender has already been awarded to a close family friend of the president”.

Here’s Presidency spokesperson Bongani Ngqulunga, according to News24:

[He] said the picture and headline “were misleading and malicious and suggested corruption on his part”. They “falsely and misleadingly” implied that Zuma was involved in the awarding of a tender to billionaire Vivian Reddy’s son Shantan in an underhand or untoward manner, or that Shantan was awarded a tender because of his father’s supposed friendship with Zuma.

Yeah, that doesn’t sound plausible at all.

The Ombudsman found that the newspaper was not justified in publishing that headline, but M&G editor Khadija Patel has come out swinging:

“This is a ruling against the public interest and as we unpick these networks of patronage more and more and the mechanics around it become important,” she told News24.

“While we have great respect for the ombudsman and the work he does, we feel he erred in saying our article harmed Zuma’s reputation, no new facts were raised about the president.”

“We work hard to minimise our mistakes and we will apologise when we get things wrong. We find ourselves disagreeing with the ombudsman; we are in no way reluctant to apologise.

“Zuma will definitely be on our front page – but it won’t be as a recipient of an apology,” Patel quipped.

We’re with you on that one – up yours JZ, you absolute cretin.

[source:news24]