[lg policy] South Africa: Race, language furore at KZN newspaper

[Harold Schiffman]

Race, language furore at KZN newspaper
dailynews/news <http://www.iol.co.za/dailynews/news> /
08 February 2016 at 09:08am
*By:* *SHERLISSA PETERS*

Pietermaritzburg - The Witness newspaper has come under fire after the leak
of an internal company memo sent to staff, reminding them that all internal
communications should be in English or Afrikaans, and not in Zulu.

The memo, sent out by a human resources employee of the Media24
conglomerate, subsequently went viral, causing outrage among the media
fraternity and the public.

The memo, sent via e-mail, effectively instructed staff to use only English
and Afrikaans, which includes “talking in the office and e-mails”.

Current staff members at The Witness, who spoke to the Daily News on
condition of anonymity, said they were incensed by the e-mail, and believed
that the company had “gone back to the dark ages” and did not treat their
African employees with the same degree of respect as their white and Indian
counterparts.

“Where are all the African journalists gone? Why is there not one African
member of management at this newspaper? These are questions that need
answering,” said one employee.

Meanwhile, the ANCYL in the Moses Mabhida region issued a statement over
the weekend, calling on the public to “boycott” the newspaper.

“The ANCYL is aware of victimisation of black journalists, and unfair
preferential treatment of white, Indian and coloured journalists
perpetrated by bosses at The Witness.

“Our longstanding call for media transformation is proven to be necessary
each day, and it can no longer be delayed,” the statement reads.

In response, Media24 general manager, Ernie Roworth, released a statement
reiterating that the media giant, and the Pietermaritzburg-based newspaper,
The Witness, “is not racist”.

In a statement published last week, Roworth apologised to staff and said it
was unfortunate that the memo was sent out which had misinterpreted Media24
policy and led to some staff members feeling excluded and marginalised.

He said the memo did not reflect Media24’s language policy. “It was simply
wrong, and we are investigating how it happened,” he said.

At a staff meeting last week, Roworth again apologised to staff and
emphasised that Media24 embraced black economic empowerment principles.

http://www.iol.co.za/dailynews/news/race-language-furore-at-kzn-newspaper-1981142


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