The chairperson of the civic organisation which is a complainant in the case before the Public Protector on Eskom's decision to sign multimillion contracts with independent power producers (IPPs), Phapano Phasha, says they have been “demonised” by the media for their act.
Writing on her Facebook page, Phasha, who chairs the Anti-Poverty Forum, said the mainstream media has never contacted them to hear their side of the story on the matter.
However, Independent Media can safely say it has been trying to contact Phasha since Sunday via Facebook messenger and she did not take up the offer to respond.
And the newspaper group in its stories it ran on Sunday and Monday, extensively lifted the group’s side from a press release it issued in February year when it decided to take the matter to the Public Protector Adv Busisiwe Mkhwebane.
In a Facebook chiding the media, Phasha alleged that the media is an extraordinary weapon.
“You know I have never been requested a right of reply by the mainstream media on our complaint to the Public Protector on Eskom. Business Day, EWN, eNCA, News24 etc call me part of the Zuma lobby group and an associate of ANN7. They have literally demonised us. Guess Who owns all this media houses thar (sic) violate our constitutional rights as whistleblowers? The same companies which also own IPPs that are bleeding Eskom to its knees,” she alleged.
The proximity to Zuma she was referring to is contained in a news report published in May this year where she reportedly lodged a complaint with the ANC’s integrity commission, asking Pravin Gordhan to step aside from all positions in the state until his name has been cleared in the Sars rogue unit matter.
Turning her attention to renewable energy, Phasha, whose Facebook profile shows that she hails from Dobsonville but lives in Roodepoort in Gauteng, said they was a new scam used by conglomerates who hide behind climate change to sniffle trillions out of taxpayers.
“The same mining bosses and mining houses that emit Carbon emissions also own RE companies that are subsidised by taxpayers: they create a crisis then equally benefit from the crisis. It's just false generosity.”