‘In the name of democracy’: Kasrils v the Sunday Times

The Sunday Times has apologised to former Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils for stating as fact in a headline that the ‘spy tapes’ (see Update at the end of this article) exposed him as the mastermind behind the manipulation of the National Prosecuting Authority ahead of the ANC’s Polokwane conference in 2007 concerning President Jacob Zuma’s corruption charges.

Press Ombudsman Johan Retief said the headline, ‘Spy tapes “illegal” and expose Kasrils’, published on 7 September 2014, inaccurately, unfairly and unnecessarily harmed Kasrils’ reputation.

The Sunday Times wrote in its apology that Retief  ‘found that, at the time of publication, we were justified in reporting the allegations as allegations – but added that the headline went too far by stating them as fact’.

‘However, after having studied the transcripts of the “spy tapes” (which were revealed after the publication of our story), Retief said our sources incorrectly and unjustifiably identified Kasrils as the mastermind behind the “manipulation of the NPA”.

‘He said: “Kasrils is mentioned in the tapes only a few times, and then mainly in passing – these are not nearly sufficient to ‘unmask’ him as the ‘mastermind’ behind it all.”

‘We hereby retract the “mastermind” statement, and also apologise for failing to include comment from Kasrils in the first edition of the Sunday Times.’

See the apology here.

Update: For a review of the ‘spy tapes’ saga, read here.