Africa-Press – South-Africa. Patriotic Alliance (PA) spokesperson Steve Motale says the online publication linked to deputy leader Kenny Kunene couldn’t publish the story about Katiso “KT” Molefe’s arrest due to unexpected events that took place on the day.
Kunene was found at Molefe’s house on Monday when the police came to arrest Molefe. , When asked what he was doing at Molefe’s house, Kunene said he was accompanying a young journalist from African News Global.
In an interview with Radio 702, Motale said the story about Molefe’s arrest couldn’t be published because the phones of Kunene and the young journalist were confiscated by the police.
“The journalist who was there was the one supposed to load the story on the website. There was nobody else, he was also caught up in the mix,” he said.
“The publication is small so he couldn’t have loaded the story and at the time his phones and Kunene’s phone were taken by the police investigating the link with the person of interest. It was a long process for the police to go through their phones.”
Another reason the story couldn’t be published was because the website hasn’t been functional, he added.
“We were going to relaunch it with this exclusive. That was the opportunity he identified to resuscitate the publication because its strong point was publishing exclusive stories.”
According to Motale, Kunene and the journalist were at Molefe’s home to get an exclusive interview regarding KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi’s allegations, which claimed Molefe contacted the Hawks head when officers from the police political killings task team tried to arrest him for murder.
“We thought this was a big story. He identified Molefe, who agreed to an interview. When the allegations by Mkhwanazi were made, the mainstream media went with allegations and people implicated were never given an opportunity to give their side of the story.”
Motale refused to reveal the identity of the young journalist, citing concerns for his reputation and career. “This is a sensitive matter, I need his permission. He’s a young guy and we don’t want his reputation to be tarnished. He’s a fresh journalist from university and [recently] introduced to the game.”
Kunene has been placed on special leave for 30 days pending investigations.
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