In January, some union members took the Fund that participated in the transaction with Kwa-Dukuza Mall based on the Sunday World articles.In January, some union members took the Fund that participated in the transaction with Kwa-Dukuza Mall based on the Sunday World articles.
Reddy Family Trust
Since December 2021, Sunday World ran a false, malicious, and putrid propaganda smear campaign against the Chairman of Kwa-Dukuza Mall, Mr Vivian Reddy.
During the engagement with the journalist in answering their media queries, Mr Reddy, and the Kwa-Dukuza Mall acted honestly and openly. He gave all the material facts to the Sunday World, but the paper proceeded to write a false and factually incorrect story intended to harm Mr Reddy’s reputation.
As a result of the false publication, we engaged with the Sunday World via normal correspondence and numerous legal letters to request that they retract the false stories; however, we were met with silence.
In light of the non-response by the Sunday World, Mr Reddy has decided to seek a remedy through the courts, to protect his reputation and ensure that the false stories are retracted and removed by the Sunday World.
Interestingly, in January 2022, some union members took the Fund that participated in the transaction with Kwa-Dukuza Mall based on the Sunday World articles.
When the Fund filed its response confirming the true facts – the employees who petitioned the court immediately withdrew their case. Those employees’ withdrawal of the court case further confirmed that the Sunday World has erred and got its “facts” wrong. But the Sunday World ignored the development.
Ordinarily, we expected any credible media house would re-align itself with the correct facts, but the Sunday World refused to budge.
The conduct of the Sunday World makes it patently clear that the story, in the first place, was not written with an honest objective. But instead, it was a propaganda smear to tarnish Mr Reddy for and on behalf of whoever thinks they could benefit from such harm.
As a Fourth Estate, the media plays a critical role in society. But with that role comes greater responsibility. The Sunday World’s posture of hanging on to a story proven false leaves many questions unanswered.
Mr Reddy is a proponent of free media. And he has found it difficult to take the decision to take the paper to court.
A defamation suit of R10-million is currently being prepared against the paper (Sunday World) and the journalists who wrote and spread the propaganda, lies and fake news against Mr Reddy.
The days of tolerating fake news are over. We are not going to remain silent in the face of propaganda and shoddy journalism. We will utilise every avenue available to ensure that those engaged in propaganda smear against us shall be held to account.
Issued by:
Reddy Family Trust
Contact: Ethen Singh +27 81 259 8664
Email: es2311@otlook.com
