DURBAN - Government spokesperson Ndabezinhle Sibiya has accused the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) of “high school grade propaganda” and “cheap public relations acrobatics”.
This was after the SIU posted on its Twitter page earlier in the week that Sibiya has withdrawn a lawsuit against the SIU and has tendered to pay costs.
“#SIUReport Ndabezinhle Sibiya has withdrawn a civil lawsuit against the Special Investigating Unit and tendered to pay our legal costs.”
#SIUReport Ndabezinhle Sibiya has withdrawn a civil suit against the Special Investigating Unit and tendered to pay our legal costs.
— Special Investigating Unit (SIU) (@RSASIU) December 7, 2021
Following this post, Sibiya immediately hit back at the SIU, accusing it of “high school grade propaganda”, and stated that the matter was still being dealt with by his attorneys for the remedy sought.
Sibiya then posted a lengthy statement on Twitter, noting the SIU’s tweet, which suggested he had withdrawn the court action and paying costs.
“Their tweet is nothing but a gimmick to mislead the public into believing that I had no case against the SIU and that the SIU was correct in its defamatory conduct against me,” Sibiya said.
He added: “When the SIU conducted a smear campaign against me through their shabby report, I took the matter to the Special Tribunal Court for a legal remedy to get the SIU to retract their malicious, false, and defamatory statements.”
This is just high school grade propaganda. I wish to confirm the matter is still being dealt with by my attorneys for the remedy sought. pic.twitter.com/iVu7IHrPh2
— Ndabezinhle Sibiya (@NdabezinhleSib4) December 7, 2021
Sibiya added that before the Special Tribunal Court hearing, the SIU went into reverse gear and filed a supplementary affidavit where it retracted and withdrew the allegations against him.
“Further to the SIU retraction and supplementary affidavit, just before the hearing, the Honourable Madam Justice Modiba raised an issue of jurisdiction on the lawsuit, in which I am pursuing a remedy for the damage that their false, fabricated, and shoddy report caused to my name,” Sibiya said.
He emphasised that this latest tweet by the SIU did not change the fact that a few months ago, the SIU publicly admitted in their affidavit served in the Special Tribunal Court that they produced shoddy work.
“I reject their latest misleading tweet with the contempt it deserves. I wish to point out that on the 9th of November, it was Honourable Madam Justice Modiba who raised the issue of jurisdiction of the lawsuit I was pursuing.
“Before this date, all parties SIU and Sunday Times included had not raised the issue of jurisdiction. The Judge pointed out the issue of jurisdiction to all parties,” Sibiya said.
Adding that it was right that when one withdraws an action, they tender the costs, but that did not mean that the SUI was absolved.
He said the matter was still being pursued in line with the Notice of withdrawal from the Tribunal Court and confirmed that it was still being dealt with by his attorneys for the remedy sought.
However, he could not elaborate further.
“Having said that, I am left with a distinct impression that I was correct in stating from the word go that whoever bulldozed the baseless claim through that shoddy report had a sinister motive. This is clearly indicated by their arrogant vosho dance and celebratory propaganda tweets,” Sibiya said.
He was shocked that, despite an SIU affidavit admitting gross errors, the organisation’s communications officials continued to subject him to high school grade propaganda through social media.
“The question is, why?”
The SIU had linked Sibiya to the R150 million tender, awarded by the national Department of Health for the National Health Insurance (NHI) communication strategy, through a subcontractor, Sotobe Media.
Sotobe Media allegedly received potential irregular payments amounting to just over R9.7m from Digital Vibes.
But, on September 20, the SIU filed a supplementary affidavit before the Special Tribunal in Johannesburg, which was written by its principal forensic investigator, Jarendra Chunilall.
“In the table at paragraph 111, p 002-221 of the founding affidavit, the allegation was made that this company was potentially related to the previous spokesperson of Dr Zweli Mkhize (i.e. the 5th respondent) Mr Ndabezinhle Sibiya.
“Upon further investigations, the SIU has established that this is not correct and that there is no relationship between Sotobe Media and Mr Ndabezinhle Sibiya. The SIU withdraws the allegation,” read Chunilall’s affidavit.
The Sunday Times, which published an article based on the SIU report, has since withdrawn the allegations.
DAILY NEWS