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- Media company Arena Holding says it it's confident about the integrity of its editor, Makhudu Sefara, amid calls for a probe into his editorial conduct while he was the editor of Sunday World.
- Sefara was named in a GroundUp report on a "lucrative partnership" between Sunday World and the National Lotteries Commission.
- Sefara said he found it "comical" that he was named in the article, despite no implication of wrongdoing.
Media company Arena Holdings says it has no reason to question the integrity of its senior editor, Makhudu Sefara, amid a call for an investigation into his editorial conduct in his previous post.
Sefara, an editor at TimesLIVE, one of the publications in the Arena Holdings stable, is the former editor of Sunday World.
He was named in a GroundUp report on allegations of a lucrative partnership between Sunday World and the National Lotteries Commission (NLC).
According to the report, Sunday World received about R24.7 million from the NLC between 2020 and 2022 for adverts and advertorial deals, significantly more than what other publications had received in the same period. The report also states that the deal coincided with reports that exposed corruption in the NLC.
According to the report, the deal unduly influenced Sunday World's editorial decisions and that it published reports that countered exposés on alleged corruption in the NLC.
The NLC is also accused of flouting the tender process in awarding contracts to Sunday World.
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Tiso Blackstar, now Arena Holdings, previously owned Sunday World.
However, in June 2019, the company finalised the sale of the publication to politically connected property tycoon David Mabilu of Fundudzi Media.
Sefara was its editor for 14 months, from July 2019.
The GroundUp article noted that the NLC increased the rate of its ad spend with Sunday World from 7% of its budget in the 2019/2020 financial year to 46% in 2020/2021. In 2021/2022, it spent 41% of its ad spend with Sunday World.
It reported, however, the trend of alleged misrepresentations of NLC press statements as "good" news stories, among other attempts to counter exposés on alleged corruption against the commission, became noticeable during Sefara's tenure as editor in 2019.
The NLC's ad expenditure on Sunday World came to light during a Q&A in Parliament in November last year.
DA MP Mat Cuthbert asked the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) for the NLC's media and marketing services-related figures for the three preceding financial years.
Minister Ebrahim Patel responded that the Auditor-General had flagged several transactions. He said the NLC committed to investigate these and take the necessary action.
The DA said it would write to Arena Holdings and call for an investigation into Sefara's conduct at Sunday World.
Asked if the company would investigate Sefara and if it had received correspondence from the DA, Pule Molebeledi, managing director for News and Media at Arena Holdings, said editors had no say in commercial matters and that the company was confident about Sefara's integrity.
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Molebeledi said: "Conventionally, editors do not get involved in commercial matters. Yet, in this case, it becomes curious that the pressure and the burden is being placed on the editor instead of people responsible for commercial transactions. As Arena, we do not have any reason to doubt Mr Sefara's integrity as one of the top editors in the country."
The GroundUp article didn't link any specific incident to Sefara, though it did raise questions about reportage during his tenure and the early months of his successor Wally Mbhele's term in the editor-in-chief's office.
Asked for comment on allegations relating to editorial decisions he would have been privy to, Sefara said he found it "comical" that he was named in the article, despite no implication of wrongdoing.
Sefara said:
Adjunct journalism professor and executive director at Campaign for Free Expression, Anton Harber, said the allegations were concerning.
He said Arena Holdings and the SA National Editors Forum (Sanef), needed to investigate the allegations and take necessary action.
He also said Sefara's responses to GroundUp and News24 were less than satisfactory. Sefara was quoted in GroundUp as having told journalist Raymond Joseph that he was "petty," "childish", and "pathetic" when asked for comment.
"It is a dismissive response. I think it is inappropriate, and he needs to deal fully and properly with the allegations it is to clear his name," he said.
Harber said ethical standard journalistic procedure required a clear separation between editorial decisions and advertorial sponsors to prevent undue influence.
Harber said:
Harber added that while the GroundUp report could affect the public's perception of journalism, it was important to emphasise the implicated publication because "there are newspapers with much clearer and stricter ethical rules".
The legal representatives of Fundudzi Media had not responded to News24's request for comment by the time of publication, and the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition declined to comment.
The NLC said the final report has not yet been issued by the DTIC.
