Rulings

The complaint is in connection with an article the respondent published on 4 March 2020. Mr Connie Myburgh filed the complaint on behalf of the respondent. In his complaint letter, Mr Myburgh says the heading of the article, published on the respondents Website Platform, was “Irba reports Nova to SARS and CIPC”. The sub-head was “Sharemax rescue vehicle to be investigated for pos

Applicant seeks leave to appeal the Ombud’s Ruling dated 21 August 2020 on applicant’s complaint against the respondent in respect of an article published on 5 March 2020. Out of that article, Mr Myburgh, the respondent’s chairperson, extracted ten (10) complaints. The complaints relate to a story which was about a company known as Orthotouch, and not the applicant, although, in

The dates of publication in some complaints are common, so too the headlines. For a good measure, I restate the Ombud’s summary of the complaints in his Ruling of 21 August 2020: “The gist of Nova’s complaint is that the sub-headline and the article falsely and maliciously stated that: it was ‘… to be investigated for possible transgressions of tax le

The complaints related to the articles published by the respondents and which dealt with the same issue; namely, a report by an independent investigator, Adv Pieter-Schalk Botha, which cleared the Municipal Manager, Mr Coenraad Groenewald, of allegations of misconduct. In her Ruling dated 4 September 2020, the Ombud dealt with the two complaints as one: “These two complaints are closely rela

The applicant had in effect filed a total of some six complaints, which were inter-related. The first group of complaints, four in number, are directly rooted in an article published on 17 March 2020. Then there are three complaints, referenced by the office of the Press Ombud as complaints 7792, 7795 and 7804. The applicant says that the 17 March 2020 article provided the reader with a link to th

Ellaurie vs Sunday Times (complaint 8292); and eNCA (webpage) (complaint 8293) Headline: Sunday Times: 'Islamophobe' gets prayer calls silenced Author: Tania Broughton   Publication date: 23/8/20   Headline, eNCA

It is also based on documents provided by Mr Sefara, including an official  communication from National Treasury, as well as previous news stories on the subject of Afrirent’s contract with the City of Johannesburg. Complaint Mr Messina, on behalf of the firm Afrirent, which was contracted by the City of Johannesburg to provide a fleet service, complains of an article in the Sun

The story was in isiZulu. The applicant said he was complaining on behalf of himself and other occupants of the building in question; which he described as being located at 247 Sarnia Road, Rossburgh, Durban. He says the headline on the first page read “Inthukuthelo ngemindeni ezitika ngocansi esikoleni”. He translated the heading as meaning: “Anger about families indulging in se

Decision to adjudicate Complaints numbers 8213 and 8214 These two complaints are closely related and deal with principally the same issue and similar stories. Hence, I am going to deal with them simultaneously. Village News (complaint 8213) (June 23, 2020) Headline: Overstrand Muni Manager cleared of allegations” Author: De Waal Steyn Hermanus Times (Complaint

Finding Complaint 4367 Date of article: 14 April 2019 Headline: Fat tender for firm with tax question mark (print) / Umgeni Water awards R220m contract to ANC-linked firm with tax question mark (online) Author:  Sipho Masondo Page:  2 Online:  Yes Particulars This finding is based on a written complaint from Reshebile director, Khanyisani