CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA MARCH 28: Western Cape Premier Helen Zille appears before the provincial legislature during a debate over her colonialism social media posts on March 28, 2017 in Cape Town, South Africa. Zille apologized for her tweets but accused the ANC government of blaming everything on white monopoly capital to hide the party’s failures. (Gallo Images / The Times / Ruvan Boshoff)
CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA MARCH 28: Western Cape Premier Helen Zille appears before the provincial legislature during a debate over her colonialism social media posts on March 28, 2017 in Cape Town, South Africa. Zille apologized for her tweets but accused the ANC government of blaming everything on white monopoly capital to hide the party’s failures. (Gallo Images / The Times / Ruvan Boshoff)
It is alleged that Zille had awarded a tender to her son’s company Paper Video, to produce educational materials for underprivileged matric students in Khayelitsha.
The Cape Argus ran the story based on ANC Member of the Provincial Legislature (MPL) Cameron Dugmore complaints to the Public Protector. Mr Dugmore claimed that Zille’s son Paul Maree was given ‘preferential treatment’ to secure the tender, which ‘would never have been given to another entrepreneur’
However, Helen Zille’s spokesman Michael Mpofu has vehemently disputed this and attacked the paper for becoming a ‘cheap propaganda rag with little regard for their own credibility.’
Mpofu was incandescent at the suggestion Maree had benefitted financially from this work, stating it was strictly voluntary:
“The Argus claim that the Premier personally intervened in a procurement process to award a tender to Paper Video, is completely false. There was no tender and the person in question was a maths teacher at the time, who approached the Education Department in that capacity only. The initiative represented a significant donation of time and resources by a teacher”
Mpofu went on to explain that the educational program provided 150 tablet devices borrowed from the provincial Education Department. A written agreement was signed, and the material was uploaded on the tablets for free.
As soon as the workshops were over, all of the devices were returned in ‘pristine condition’.
Zille has previously written an opinion piece on her son’s work in Khayelitsha, where she made it clear that Maree made no money out of the project, and secured the necessary funds from donors.
Mpofu was severe in his criticism for the Argus, who he accuses of showing a ‘complete disregard for the intelligence of their readers’.
Read: Cape Times penalised for printing false, defamatory articles about Helen Zille
He didn’t stop there, either. He vowed that he and his team would ‘continue to expose their distorted and unethical reporting’, and that ‘printing of outright fabrications as front page leads has become commonplace for them [publishers Independent Group]’, following the misrepresentation of what the Western Cape Premier had said.
It’s only June, but something tells me neither the Argus or Zille’s office can expect Christmas cards from each other this year.
