The gloves are off.
Veteran investigative journalist Mzilikazi wa Afrika has launched a blistering attack on Paul O’Sullivan, accusing the controversial forensic investigator of years of harassment, repeatedly branding him a criminal and attempting to link him to crimes he says he knows nothing about.
The award winning journalist has also accused O’Sullivan of running what he describes as a years-long campaign to portray him as a criminal. This was after O’ Sullivan sent Wa Afrika a message accusing him of being an enabler of state capture. O’Sullivan fired this message after Wa Afrika interviewed former Gauteng Hawks boss Prince Mokotedi on his podcast called Unpopular Opinion where he alleged that the forensic investigator admitted to being a spy.
The intrepid newshound did not take kindly to his insults.
He took it to social media and wrote : “Dear Paul O’Sullivan, you are just a piece sh*t, don’t start with me and not this time around.
“My phone isn’t hacked, now is the to time to address this shameless information peddler called Paul O’Sullivan.”
He accused O’Sullivan of repeatedly harassing him and calling him a crook and a criminal.
Wa Afrika accused O’Sullivan of attempting to connect him to criminal activity with which he says he has no association.
“I don’t have a single criminal record. Over the years he has tried to link me to crimes I know nothing about and place me in people’s houses I have never been,” he said.
According to Wa Afrika, the allegations against him were investigated by a retired judge appointed by the South African National Editors’ Forum, SANEF, and a three-member panel subsequently concluded that O’Sullivan had failed to provide evidence.
“All his false accusations were investigated by a retired judge who was appointed by SANEF and the three member panel report stated that O’Sullivan failed to produce any shred of evidence,” Wa Afrika alleged.
A SANEF Independent Panel Report into Media Ethics and Credibility contains substantial material concerning O’Sullivan and his conflict with the Sunday Times, where Wa Afrika worked.
The panel recorded that O’Sullivan had alleged in a booklet that Sunday Times journalists had been bribed to write some of their stories.
The report says then-Sunday Times editor Ray Hartley investigated those allegations and found ‘no substance therein’.
The report also records that O’Sullivan continued his campaign against the newspaper and its journalists, including publicly repeating allegations of bribery.
The SANEF report describes a deeply antagonistic relationship between O’Sullivan and the Sunday Times.
The report further records O’Sullivan threatening to intensify pressure on the newspaper after it published a story concerning him.
It says he continued his campaign against both the Sunday Times and its journalists.
The panel also recorded a series of demands O’Sullivan made concerning the newspaper’s reporting on the SARS rogue unit, Zimbabwean renditions and the Cato Manor death squad.
Wa Afrika’s description of O’Sullivan as a shameless information peddler signals just how deep the hostility has become.
This is a developing story.
