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Police Minister Bheki Cele.
- Landbouweekblad was ordered to apologize to Police Minister Bheki Cele.
- The publication reported that Cele had said in an imbizo with the Normandien farming community. “Farmers shouldn’t complain when they get hurt.”
- Cele, through her spokesperson Lirandzu Themba, filed a complaint with the Press Ombudsman, accusing that she had not made the statement.
Landbouweekblad was ordered to apologize to Police Minister Bheki Cele after he quoted him in a headline saying “Farmers should not complain when they get hurt.”
In September last year, the publication reported that Cele allegedly made the comment in an imbizo with the Normandien farming community following the murder of Glen Rafferty and his wife, Vida.
FACT CHECK | No evidence Bheki Cele said ‘farmers shouldn’t complain when they get hurt’
He quoted a local farmer, president of the Normandy Farmers Association and the Raffertys’ nephew, Roland Collyer, who told the publication that the meeting was held in Zulu, in which he is fluent.
“At one point, he said at the meeting, which included many occupants and occupiers of land, that farmers should not complain if they are injured after seizing livestock.”
Cele, through her spokesperson Lirandzu Themba, filed a complaint with the Press Ombudsman, accusing that she had not made the statement.
He said the report was “irresponsible and reckless” and had further fueled tensions in the farming community.
Themba added that Landbouweekblad had not given Cele the opportunity to verify whether this statement was “actually said, but was based on the word of a farmer who was at the meeting,” adding that the police had a full recording and transcript of the comments he had made.
The publication, in turn, kept its story.
Sources
Editor Chris Burgess said the comments were confirmed by three independent sources who had been present at the meeting and were fluent in IsiZulu.
He added that the evidence offered by the department could be subject to manipulation and offered to give Cele a prominent right of reply “that will impartially give more context to what the minister may or may not have said, as well as mention that he denies I vehemently never said those words, so I’m sure the farming community will be greatly relieved. “
Burgess also provided the ombudsman with two affidavits from two farmers who attended the meeting.
The Ombudsman considered that the publication “had not verified that the quotes were correct, apart from relying on a source, and in fact there was not even a reporter at the meeting” and should have clearly reflected that these were statements made by farmers who attended the meeting. meeting.
He also hadn’t sent the quotes to Cele’s office for comment or confirmation and posted a misleading headline, found the ombud.
The publication was ordered to apologize to the minister on all platforms where the original story was published and to offer Cele a right of reply.
Themba in a statement on Wednesday said that Cele felt “vindicated” by the ruling and believed that “such a lapse of judgment further fueled tensions in South Africa, eroding the relationship between the police and the farming community.”
“It is critical that the media recognize their destructive power if they do not do their job properly. These types of reports saw more violence from members of the farming community, many of whom read the Landbouweekblad newspaper, were enraged and assaulted a court building in Senekal and setting fire to a police vehicle, following the gruesome murder of another farm manager combined with anger and resentment towards the statement I never said. “
