Picture: GALLO IMAGES/CHARLES GALLO
Picture: GALLO IMAGES/CHARLES GALLO

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THE Sunday Times on Wednesday said it plans to appeal a ruling against it by the Press Ombudsman for its "unfair" reportage on a so-called South African Revenue Service (SARS) "rogue unit".

The newspaper has been ordered to retract all stories about its SARS "rogue unit saga" and to publicly apologise in writing to former SARS commissioner Pravin Gordhan and others implicated, according to a ruling by the Press Ombudsman released on Wednesday.

The same was to be done for former senior SARS officials, Ivan Pillay and Johann van Loggerenberg, who were also implicated in the Sunday Times’ articles and editorial. The newspaper was directed to publish a full apology on page two of its print version, as well as on its website, for various allegations made in the texts.

"Not only was the content of the stories inaccurate, misleading and unfair, but the conclusions in both the editorial and the sub-headline of the main story… cannot be correct — or were, at best, premature," said Press Ombudsman Johan Retief in a statement on his findings.

The three had lodged a complaint against the Sunday Times following a series of reports regarding SARS and an alleged illegal unit, which was accused of running a brothel and spying on President Jacob Zuma, among other things.

The Sunday Times said on Wednesday that it had noted the ruling.

We are disappointed with the majority of the findings and sanctions that have been made and intend to appeal key elements of the Ombudsman’s ruling to the chair of the South African Press Appeals Panel,” it said.

We maintain that the reporting by the Sunday Times was balanced, unbiased, and that the newspaper had been sufficiently responsible and thorough in checking the validity of all information supplied by its numerous independent sources. The Sunday Times had no agenda other than to uncover the truth, which we investigated diligently and in the public interest. We are confident of our chances on appeal.

Mr Retief said that the newspaper had presented, in its article, a draft finding from a KPMG report as a final finding: "This was inaccurate, misleading and unfair.”

He also ruled that the Sunday Times had breached the press code's ethos around reputation and dignity, which stipulates: "The dignity or reputation of an individual should be overridden only by a legitimate public interest and in the following circumstances."

As such, when it came to an editorial published on the matter: "The only conclusion that the panel can come to is that the newspaper’s reportage has unnecessarily tarnished Mr Gordhan’s dignity and reputation."

Mr Pillay and Mr van Loggerenberg issued a statement welcoming the ruling.

“As we argued before the Press Ombudsman earlier this month, for more than a year since August 2014, the Sunday Times has been advancing a tenacious campaign that tarnished the reputation of SARS, our reputations as former SARS officials and even the reputations of former ministers of finance, who served our country and our democracy with distinction,” they said.

With News24