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The
Sunday Times has defended its decision not to run a story that
National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka was probed
as a possible apartheid spy.
In a front page editorial yesterday, editor Mathatha Tsedu said
that when a newspaper was given information, it had to ask itself
whether publication was in the public interest.
In almost all instances the giver had a cause to fight for.
Sometimes the motive was sincere public interest, but sometimes
there was a personal agenda.
"I remain convinced that publication of the story with the
information we had at the time would have served interests other
than those of the public and exposed our newspaper to litigation,"
he said.
The newspaper's political reporter, Ranjeni Munusamy, was suspended
two weeks ago after admitting that she passed the story on to rival
City Press when the Sunday Times refused to run it.
She resigned from the Sunday Times on Friday.
Ngcuka, who has denied he was a spy, has threatened to sue City
Press.
The story was based on an alleged probe into Ngcuka's activities by
an African National Congress intelligence unit. On Friday,
President Thabo Mbeki appointed former Supreme Court of Appeal
president Joos Hefer to chair an official commission of inquiry
into the claims. – Sapa.
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