Publications
Partners
There was no special relationship between the Gupta-owned New Age and the Government Communications and Information System, its acting director-general Donald Liphoko has insisted.
And the R10,199 million government adspend in the New Age last year was money well spent, he said.
The GCIS is at the centre of bombshell claims by its former head, Themba Maseko, that President Jacob Zuma had called him to ensure that he met the Gupta brothers ahead of the launch of the newspaper in 2010. In the meeting, the Guptas asked for lucrative government advertising to be channelled to the newspaper, the Sunday Times quotes Maseko as saying. Maseko is quoted saying that the Guptas told him that they would replace him “with people who will cooperate”.
Maseko, who refused to oblige, was removed from his post a year later.
The Guptas have rubbished the claims.
Contacted on Sunday about whether the Guptas were applying pressure on GCIS, Liphoko said he had never met the Guptas: “I have no personal relationship with the Guptas; they are normal media clients. The New Age is one of many publications that GCIS buys media space from in the course of our business. There is nothing hidden about it and is disclosed in Parliament.”
Liphoko, who is also the acting chief accounting officer, would not comment on Maseko’s specific allegations about his meeting with the Guptas because he had only joined GCIS two years ago.
Liphoko’s comments concurred with a reply from Minister of Communications Faith Muthambi, who said that no directive was received to spend more money on the New Age than other newspapers.
But the Democratic Alliance’s Phumzile van Damme said on Sunday that Maseko’s revelations contradicted these comments.
The DA would submit more questions to the minister “and demand that she comes clean” about the Guptas.
The party has consistently raised concerns about what it said was a disproportionate amount spent on the New Age. For instance, almost the same amount was spent on the Sowetan last year, even though the latter had 1 674 000 readers compared with the New Age’s 153 000, according to the AMPs figures.
The DA has also asked Public Protector Thuli Madonsela to include Maseko’s revelations in her broader investigation into state capture amid deputy finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas’ confirmation last week that the Guptas had offered him the job of finance minister.
The New Age dismissed the allegations by Maseko on Sunday night, saying they were “unfounded” and “part of an ongoing coordinated campaign”.
The New Age would have received an extraordinary amount of government advertising after its launch if Maseko’s claim of undue pressure around the launch was true, said Nazeem Howa, chief executive of Oakbay Investments, the holding company for the Gupta family’s businesses in the country.
“For the period from The New Age’s launch on December 6 2010 to December 31 2011, [the period that Maseko refers to] the paper received 1.8% of national government’s total advertising spend, which makes a mockery of alleged pressure to push revenue to The New Age,” he said in a statement.
“Despite TNA Media being a private company, we are taking the unusual step of releasing confidential company information, in the interests of full transparency. For the period December 6 2010 to December 31 2011, total advertising booked by GCIS into The New Age was less than R2.5million for the full period.”
Muthambi had not responded to requests for comment; neither had Zuma’s spokesperson Bongani Majola.
