Newspaper
23 November 2007
We have noted the false allegations, which emerged from the Cape High Court
and appeared on the Cape Argus of 20 of November 2007, alleging intimate
relations between Limpopo Premier and a certain woman by the name of Faiza
Salie. The implication made in the report is that the Limpopo Premier has an
extramarital affair with this particular woman, who is in the middle of a court
case involving the murder of her daughter by her Ugandan husband. We want to
put it on record that this allegation is completely untrue, baseless and
without foundation.
In our view, this can only be the work of desperate people who are trying to
cast aspersions on the good name of the Limpopo Premier. It must be known that
the woman in question is completely unknown to the Premier and has never
enjoyed any kind of special relations with him, whatsoever.
We would also like to put on record that the information at our disposal
indicates that there was never a specific mention of the Premier of Limpopo in
Cape High court on 19 November 2007. The only name mentioned is that of certain
Paul Sello Moloto, who is said to be 'a member of Parliament representing
Polokwane'. On the other hand, the lady has denied receiving an SMS that is
purported to be coming Limpopo Premier's cell phone.
The information at our disposal has it that the lady visited Polokwane on 2
September 2006 to meet Moloto in question. During this weekend the Premier had
work commitments outside Polokwane, i.e. from 31 August 2006 to 2 September
2006, he returned on 3 of September to join an annual pilgrimage at Moria
City.
It will also be important to indicate that, in the recent past, both Limpopo
Premier and the first Lady have been victims of fraudulent people who either
posed as their agents, or one way or the other, claimed to enjoy special kinds
of relations with them.
Similarly, we are not surprised to be confronted by this kind of allegation
at this time, as we believe that there will always be people with sinister
agendas, who will at all times be prepared to smear important figures in our
society, especially now, that we are going to the elective national conference
of the African National Congress (ANC) to be held in our province. We have seen
this with the hoax-emails in the ANC and these latest allegations cannot be an
exception.
Our major concern and worry is about the professional and ethical standing
of the journalists and the media house concerned. We are unable to comprehend
how basic ethics of journalism can be overlooked and ignored as it happened in
this case. Simple things like verifying the names, confirming the phone numbers
used, and above all, getting the other side of the story in order to have a
balanced view about the story.
We will still wait to hear from these institutions what their intentions
were about this defaming, insulting, hurting, damaging and sensational
story.
We still stand by our word that we have forgiven the couple, husband and
wife, because we believe the intention on their part is not similar to those of
other parties.
For more information contact:
Mogale Nchabeleng
General Manager: Communications
Tel: 015 287 6151
Cell: 072 632 8984
Issued by: Limpopo Provincial Government
23 November 2007
Source: Limpopo Provincial Government (http://www.limpopo.gov.za)
