The beleaguered news channel reported that President Jacob Zuma was forced to go to the Cosatu event.
Gupta-owned ANN7 has been slammed for reporting that deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa, national secretary Gwede Mantashe and national treasurer Zweli Mkhize forced President Jacob Zuma to attend the Cosatu event on May Day.
Zuma was booed and heckled by Cosatu members during the event in Mangaung, resulting to Cosatu cancelling the event and all speeches.
The party said the deployment to the event was a collective decision taken by all national officials.
“Further, it was a decision taken by the national officials fully aware of the potential for heckling,” it said in a statement on Wednesday.
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ANN7 said Zuma was “pushed” by the three leaders but the ANC rejected this, saying such reports, “devoid of truth”, were typical of ANN7.
Cosatu earlier this year took the resolution that Zuma should step down and two of its affiliates said allowing him to address workers would send a conflicting message.
The federation wants Ramaphosa to take over as Zuma’s successor and is opposed to the bid of an ANC lobby group linked to Zuma – the so-called Premier League – wanting Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to succeed the president.
“Members of the media have a responsibility to report the news accurately, factually and objectively.
“ANN7 however seems determined to manufacture false consensus, sharpening contradictions and deepening fissures in the ANC.
“The station effectively acts as a mouthpiece of the factional divisions that plague the African National Congress, consistently showing itself as being intent on driving wedges within the organisation and pitting comrade against comrade,” the ANC statement read.
(edited by MLM)
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