If you’re going to try to intimidate an investigative journalist, at least do a professional job of it. There’s never any reason to stoop to that level — but if you decide to go down that path, make sure you do not engage in something like the comedy of errors involving the Mehanas and our journalist Thanduxolo Jika that has played out since December.
The facts are that Jika wrote a news story about Rev Vukile Mehana, the former chair of Sizwe Africa IT Group, which won huge tenders from the Eastern Cape basic education department. Almost three months after his firm pocketed more than R300m, Mehana threw a lavish wedding for his wife, Dr Naledi Mbude-Mehana, a former senior official at the same department that paid his firm. Mbude-Mehana now works for the national basic education department.
When the Mehanas heard that Jika was doing a second story about them, Rev Mehana called me to complain. However, there was really no basis for his doing so. He simply felt one story about them was enough, so why the second one? The Mehanas also assumed Jika would write in his forthcoming story that they were selling their R23m house in Midrand to hide their assets. But the piece was still being written and, when it finally appeared, their concern was shown to have been an overreaction.
Two days before the story was published, Mbude-Mehana opened a case at Midrand police station alleging harassment, intimidation and defamation by Jika, according to Sgt Tshimangadzo Muoki. The alleged intimidation consisted in Jika having asked Mbude-Mehana to answer some questions — nothing more.
If he had not given her a right of reply in the circumstances, this would have been unfair to her and a violation of the press code.
What is interesting, however, is that the police case management system shows Jika allegedly violated a court order that we doubt exists. Throughout the period Muoki was hounding Jika, he never mentioned a court order. It was only when we complained to police minister Senzo Mchunu that we discovered Mbude-Mehana’s case is about Jika having violated a protection order that was never served on us.
Until someone produces the order, I will regard it as a red herring. When Mbude-Mehana was questioned this week by senior journalist Sabelo Skiti about the purported order, she too was surprised, asking, “What court order?”
But it gets even more interesting. When Mchunu’s office tried to investigate this bogus case, Muoki, whom I spoke to about Jika and who had spoken to Jika twice, pretended to know nothing about a case involving Jika.
Days earlier, Muoki’s memory worked very well when I mentioned Jika’s name. When I told him we could put together a warning statement and have it delivered to the police station, he said Jika had to present himself there in person. Now, all of a sudden, he has no recollection of Jika — just as Mbude-Mehana has no recollection of which “court order” Jika has violated.
That these cases arise simply strengthens public perceptions that some police officers are available for hire
This volte-face is astonishing. There is clearly a stink here. That the apparent plan against Jika was amateurishly implemented is both a good and a bad thing. It’s good because hopefully Mchunu and his police management will quickly help dispense with this patent act of intimidation so we can turn our attention to issues that matter.
But it is bad because we shouldn’t be distracted by this sort of nonsense in a democratic society. Opening a case against a journalist who sends you questions to respond to is plain harassment. Can you imagine journalists in the country’s newsrooms having to file warning statements in connection with stories they work on daily? All manner of criminals, including baruti ba ditsotsi (criminal priests), will be able to get away with murder.
Muoki should have checked whether the court order Jika allegedly violated does in fact exist. If the Mehanas had accused him of breaching a non-existent court order, there was no need to get a warning statement from him, because there was not even a smidgen of a case in the first place.
That these cases arise simply strengthens public perceptions that some police officers are available for hire. Maybe, just maybe, Muoki was great at his previous job as a security guard but is now simply out of his depth as a police officer, and did not intend to harass Jika.
But if this is so, why did he feign ignorance about Jika’s case? He didn’t ask me for a case number when I spoke to him about Jika, but when Mchunu’s office made enquiries about the matter, he suddenly needed a case number to remember anything.
The whole affair is both mind-boggling and worrying. The ANC and many others fought for media freedom in this country. The Mehanas should know better — unless they have become desperate to silence a reporter asking them uncomfortable questions.
However, we remain unbowed by this tragicomedy.
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