Factually incorrect reporting in Beeld
Statement by Roelf Meyer, UDM Deputy-President
The main article in this morning’s Beeld: “Skok oor moorde vir Magnus, Vlok”, in which it is stated that I have received a notice from the TRC, regarding my former position as Deputy Minister of Law and Order, about a certain incident in May 1996, is a flagrant factual mistake.
- I received no letter or notice at any stage from the TRC about any matter as was reported.
- The reporter did not contact me, or my office, to verify these facts.
- Instead he went ahead and reported it as a fact that I have received such a letter.
- At the time of the alleged incident I was not a deputy minister of any portfolio what so ever.
- This is obviously why the TRC did not send me a notice.
I conveyed the above facts this morning to the editor of Beeld, Mr. Johan de Wet, upon which he apologised for the factual errors made by the journalist and has undertaken to report the true facts and a correction in tomorrow’s newspaper. Other media carried the report in Beeld – I would expect the same correction to take place in those mediums.
