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Ebrahim Rasool

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Journalists who received “brown envelope” payments for writing politically biased stories are still working for Western Cape newspapers and the politicians who paid them still hold prominent positions, say the whistle-blowers who first reported the scandal in 2005.

On Tuesday Roger Friedman and Benny Gool, owners of public relations company Oryx Media, spoke publicly for the first time about the issue of payments to journalists by the Western Cape administration of Ebrahim Rasool, allegedly to support the “Rasool faction” of the regional ANC against that of political rival Mcebisi Skwatsha, who was ANC provincial secretary at the time.

Allegations about the payments are repeated in the Nel Report, which was commissioned by the ANC to investigate a number of issues in its Western Cape region, including the “brown envelope” matter.

A copy of the report was released this week under court order in terms of a Promotion of Access to Information Act brought by the Cape Argus.

Friedman and Gool are named as the principal witnesses in the report, which summarises their account of payments to the then political editor of the Cape Argus, Joe Aranes, and political writer Ashley Smith.

Aranes never admitted receiving payments and later resigned, while Smith resigned before an internal disciplinary hearing against him was completed.

Smith later made a confession in which he spelled out how he and Aranes had been paid, but in his affidavit, signed in June 2010, he said he did not know of any journalists, other than the two of them, who had been paid.

Friedman and Gool told the Cape Argus on Tuesday that they were certain that “a group” of journalists had been involved.

“At the time, it was almost like everyone knew about it within the circles we moved in,” said Gool.

“There would be the scene in the mall (at a coffee shop) every day, the group (of journalists) was sitting discussing it every day and you could see the people who were there, sitting in full view of everybody.”

Friedman said biased reporting had become obvious when they subsequently tracked stories that appeared in various publications, and that Aranes had confirmed to him that a number of journalists had been involved.

“At the outset Joe told me… and I said to Joe: ‘You’re bloody mad. First of all it’s illegal, but second it’s not sustainable, these politicians will use you and spit you out, you can’t do it.’

“And he said to me: ‘Don’t be an idiot, I’m not doing it, I’ve got people’ – (he said) people, plural, not (just) Ashley Smith.”

Friedman said they had testified to the Nel inquiry.

“We went in and did what we’re doing now; we agreed to speak on the record and to tell the truth.”

Friedman said he had not studied the 11-page interim report closely but he believed it reflected “fairly accurately” what they had told Nel.

Gool said they were both “surprised and concerned” by the report.

“My concern particularly is that there are still journalists who were involved… who are still in newspapers and I’m concerned that they are still operating with impunity.”

Friedman added: “In fact, there were people on both sides of the transaction who are still in the system, whether in journalism or in government.”

Asked why they would not name the other journalists involved, Friedman said they had always been “very cautious” about naming people.

But they were adamant that the evidence was available through a thorough analysis of reporting and column-writing.

Gool said that when they had raised the alarm initially, they had not been believed.

“We were concerned that at some point the Argus itself did not take this seriously – it’s been on the table for a very, very long time.

“And I think that as time went by, we were (proved) correct in this thing.

“I’m glad that the Argus has taken the stand to cleanse this process now. I’m happy that it’s gone to court.

“This is a serious issue

and the Argus does need to continue on this path and take this thing and investigate it and come up with the truth.”

Friedman said they’d initially believed that their warnings to people “at a very senior level in Independent Newspapers and the ANC” would have been enough to resolve the problem.

“In a sense we tried to blow the whistle on this thing. With hindsight, that was very naive, because it appears that neither (party) was particularly keen to clear it up.

“(But) both of us have a feeling that the present hierarchy at the Argus are serious and they can see the seriousness of this and do want to clean it up.”

john.yeld@inl.co.za - Cape Argus