Here is perhaps the most shocking example of the paper’s
questionable reportage. In March 2011 , the Sowetan broke the story
about Magashule’s alleged assault of two ANC branch members in
Winburg, as referred to in the previous chapter.^17 More than a year
later, in May 2012 , The Weekly published a story under the headline
‘Ace plot revealed’.^18 The report opened with a quote from Joel Maleka
and Mzwanele Moletsane, the two men who had laid charges of assault
against Magashule following the alleged fisticuffs. ‘We are sorry, we
did not want to open a case, and we love our chairman [Magashule],’
they told the paper during ‘an exclusive interview’. Maleka and
Moletsane apparently admitted to The Weekly that ‘they were promised
jobs and money if they acted against the ANC provincial
chairperson’.^19 The article continues: An investigation conducted by
The Weekly then established that the allegations by the two were
nothing but a conspiracy aimed at tainting Magashule’s reputation.
This was after several high profile sources who were present at the
meeting confirmed that Magashule never assaulted the duo as per
media reports ... The two have now realised that the senior ANC
leaders who offered them bribes were sworn enemies of Magashule
who wanted to use the incident to embarrass him.^20
The article did not reveal the names of the ‘senior ANC leaders’ behind
the alleged plot, but it included this little afterthought: ‘They [Maleka
and Moletsane] made it clear that no one pressured them to spill the
beans to The Weekly about the plot.’^21
It would have been a fantastic scoop, if only it were true.
I managed to get hold of Maleka in August 2018. He told me that he
was never involved in a plot to smear Magashule’s reputation. He was