Hon. Velenkosini Hlabisa, MPL
President of the IFP
The IFP has taken note of an article by the editor-in-chief of City Press, Mondli Makhanya, wherein he yet again, like a hundred times before, abuses the position he holds at City Press to attack his political enemy, the IFP.
We have long been concerned that he continues to abuse the platform given to him by the paper, to spew false and baseless allegations against the IFP. We will deal with his most recent missive with an in-depth rejoinder to City Press next Sunday.
It is quite abhorrent for Mr Makhanya to talk about so-called warlords that unleashed violence on communities when in The People’s War, by Dr Anthea Jeffrey, Mr Makhanya himself admitted to being complicit in the low-intensity civil war that raged in the 80s. He admits that he participated in the violence, on the side of the ANC. Now, he masquerades as a journalist and uses his platform to attack the IFP almost weekly.
The IFP strongly condemns his baseless allegations, and we will be taking these matters further in due course.
In addition, serious questions must be asked of SANEF and City Press. Why do they continue to allow a person who clearly holds a vendetta against a political party to masquerade as a journalist and editor?
But more than that – do SANEF and City Press condone a so-called editor calling all IFP supporters backwards? Surely this is not only in breach of the Press Code but a breach of the Constitution, which upholds and protects the dignity of all our citizens.
Moreover, it is quite unacceptable – and laughable – that Mr Makhanya is quick to call out the ANC for management failures and failures of leadership, but now, as KZN burns, he implicates his arch enemy, the IFP. He should rather use his position as a positive platform, to hold those in power to account for their own mess.
Much like yesterday, we call for calm in KwaZulu-Natal. We call for law and order to be restored and for the leaders in the province to provide leadership.
Finally, we call on Government to, without further delay, deploy the army to the province so that we can protect lives and livelihoods and to protect KwaZulu-Natal’s economy from treasonous economic sabotage.
–
Contact:
For Media Enquiries Please WhatsApp Ms Megan Dick on 082 432 1335.
