“The Department of Communication spent close to R1 million on a single Gupta-media breakfast briefing in May last year, a reply to DA parliamentary questions has revealed,” DA communications spokesperson Phumzile van Damme said in a statement.
Van Damme said Communications Minister Ayanda Dlodlo confirmed that the department had spent R988 689.84 on a business breakfast briefing which was held on 26 May 2016 organised by Gupta-owned newspaper, The New Age (TNA).
Receives
“It is not a secret the Gupta-owned TNA is propped up by the millions it receives from government departments and state-owned companies that sponsor its breakfast briefings, buy in bulk copies of its newspaper, and spend disproportionately on adverts in the newspaper.”
Van Damme listed a number of recent examples which included the Free State Provincial Government spending more than R4m on TNA in 2016, the SABC spending almost R1m on subscriptions to TNA as well as the Communications Department spending R10m on advertising in the same paper in 2015.
Clear
“Over the last few months, it has become patently clear that not only TNA, but also ANN7, are nothing more than Gupta and pro-Zuma propaganda mouthpieces, surviving on the hard-earned rands of South Africa’s taxpayers. It is no longer conscionable to fund this propaganda,” she said.
“We call on South Africans to see all Gupta-media for what it is: Gupta mouthpieces defending the capture of our state.”