ANC YL RESPONSE TO A MOB OF CONCERNED JOURNALISTS

17 March 2010

The ANC Youth League received a complaint written by a mob of political Journalists who appear to be a nameless concerned group.

The complaint is based on their immature characterisation as bullying by ANC Youth League Leadership, in particular the ANCYL Spokesperson, Floyd Shivambu.

The mob of Journalists has made various allegations that the leadership of the ANC Youth League has threatened to expose their private information and will consequently result in threatening the freedom of expression as enshrined in the Constitution.

In their statement, the mob raises false alarms in response to a genuine case of alleged tax evasion and money laundering by City Press Journalist, Dumisani Lubisi.

The ANC Youth League will never retreat from its programme to expose the possible corruption and tax fraud of any person in South Africa and will do everything in its power to expose Millionaire Journalists who do not pay tax and cannot explain how they accumulated their wealth.

The complaint by the gang of Journalists is contrary to what they intentioned, an inspiration to pursue the case against potentially corrupt Journalists.

The leadership of the ANC YL and its Spokespersons always speak on behalf of the organisation and any attempt to isolate the any leader/member of the organisation from the organisation will be rejected with absolute contempt.

The ANC Youth League maintains the view that there are Journalists in South Africa who are corrupt. They continue to take bribes and practise infantile, racist and unethical journalism.

This is a reflection of reality and there will never be any apology for making such a correct observation. No one will ever apologise for making such a truthful observation.

Journalists in South Africa should begin to appreciate that the freedom of expression enshrined in the country’s Constitution is not solely and exclusively for Journalists and media houses. The freedom of expression expands to all citizens, including the activists and leadership of political organisations.

Journalists should also appreciate that they are citizens of South Africa before they are employees of various media houses. They therefore should stand up against all forms of corruption, fraud, racism and unethical professional practice including against colleagues in the profession.

The mob of Journalists has also assisted the ANC Youth League to identify those who are real enemies of our organisation and what they stand for. These are people consistently write nonsense about the leadership of the ANC Youth League and they have now decided to club themselves into an undefined mob.

We are aware that there are some who did not sign the petition who are enemies of the ANC Youth League and we will work very cautiously around these people. The fact that certain Journalists have signed and some did not reflects the agendas behind the signatories in the petition and fear exposure of their underhand dealings, corruption, racism and unethical behaviour.

The ANCYL does not acknowledge the ill formed mob and will not retreat from principle. Concerns will be raised by individuals on specific issues.

Issued by the President of the African National Congress Youth League, Julius Malema: