Ramaphosa addresses Zanu-PF ‘bombshell

President Cyril Ramaphosa has invited Zimbabwe's Zanu-PF director of information Tafadzwa Mugwadi to reveal his threatened ‘bombshell’ regarding a recent visit by an ANC delegation to Zimbabwe. Mugwadi has been embroiled in a prolonged war of words with SABC foreign editor Sophie Mokoena over what he claims to be biased reporting by South Africa’s public broadcaster. Mugwadi claimed Mokoena’s ‘fake news’ reporting is intended to undermine a neighbouring country and President (Emmerson) Mnangagwa for no apparent reason….I will seek permission to leak a bombshell on why the ANC delegation came’. A report on the IoL site notes that Ramaphosa said the aim of the trip was to express concern about the situation in Zimbabwe. ‘So as far as we are concerned ,there is nothing amiss and there is nothing we could say we have to hide,’ he said.

The South African National Editors' Forum (Sanef) has addressed the matter and called for an end to the online abuse of female journalists. This after Mugwadi directed ‘sexist and misogynistic vitriol’ at SABC foreign editor Sophie Mokoena. ‘Sanef has sadly noted the blatant sexist and misogynistic vitriol directed from Mugwadi in a bid to intimidate, harass and stop her from doing her job of reporting on Zimbabwe and the continent,’ the organisation said. A report on the News24 site notes that it stated that ‘Mugwadi seems to have taken it personally that Mokoena asked tough questions about the whereabouts of Mnangagwa amid the coronavirus crisis’. Sanef advised Mugwadi and Zanu-PF to direct any complaints about Mokoena's reporting to the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa.