The #MotiFiles<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n When the first major chapter of the #MotiFiles landed on 28 April, detailing how the Moti group attempted to cosy up to Zimbabwe\u2019s ruling elite<\/a>, the Moti Group had already secured three magazine covers: Leadership, Black Business Quarterly, and Financial Mail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At least two of the covers were paid for by the Moti Group: Leadership and Financial Mail (which was an insert made to look like a cover and which some stores displayed in preference to the actual front cover).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The premise of all three stories was that the Moti Group was now being led by former Treasury director-general Dondo Mogajane (as CEO) and Moti\u2019s 24-year-old son Mikaeel Moti (as executive chair).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Moti had announced he was stepping away from the Moti Group at the end of March. At this point, the Sentry had already started asking questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Moti made oblique references to damaging allegations in the past but did not disclose that fresh allegations were emerging from the #MotiFiles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cUnfortunately, the damage that has been done to my reputation over the years by various criminal allegations has meant that the value I am able to add to the management and growth of the company has become limited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhile I have a clear criminal record as I have never been found guilty of any of the ludicrous accusations made against me, as a business leader, I am big enough to say that the assertions have impacted my family, the businesses and, to a large extent, my life,\u201d he told IOL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But instead of stepping away, Moti has made himself the front man for the public relations fightback campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The fightback<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Days before the first article, Moti launched a Tiktok account: \u201cStarted filming yesterday for my tell-all video series for social media,\u201d he wrote in one of his first posts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the amaBhungane and the Sentry expos\u00e9s were published a few days later, Moti released a series of videos produced by his PR team denying the allegations and attempting to discredit the journalists who wrote the articles:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt seems that because elections are coming in Zimbabwe all these people are looking for a certain narrative, and they\u2019re selling a narrative. Now we don’t know who\u2019s causing this narrative to be sold, we don\u2019t know who\u2019s buying people along the way, we don\u2019t know if they\u2019re bribed, but there\u2019s possibilities. So we’re looking into that as to who’s running this narrative behind this campaign that Sole and the Sentry are running.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ironically, while Moti was accusing amaBhungane of being paid to push an agenda, his PR team continued buying paid content in other media to bolster the Moti Group\u2019s reputation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Behind the scenes, however, amaBhungane had been alerted to a growing threat to its journalists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Criminal charges<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In February, former Moti Group employee Clinton van Niekerk was arrested before he boarded an international flight in Durban. Van Niekerk had left the Moti Group in November 2022, and was accused of taking thousands of confidential files with him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A month earlier, private investigator Paul O\u2019Sullivan, who works with the Moti Group, had called Van Niekerk and threatened him with arrest if he did not return the files.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTrust me when I tell you, you will face the music for what you\u2019ve done. You can either cooperate with me, and things can be handled that way, or you can put your head in the ground and wait for justice to catch up with you,\u201d O\u2019Sullivan warned in a recorded call.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A month later, Van Niekerk was arrested on a fraud warrant but the arrest was set aside by the high court in Durban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Moti has always argued that the leaked #MotiFiles are \u201cstolen\u201d and has attempted to make the case that Van Niekerk is a \u201ccriminal\u201d not a whistleblower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In his initial response to amaBhungane\u2019s questions Moti maintained that the documents amaBhungane might be relying on were stolen and that, by extension, amaBhungane is \u201cknowingly perpetuating unlawful conduct\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He warned, \u201cInsofar as the matter is currently being investigated by the SAPS, I have instructed [my lawyers] to inform the SAPS of your involvement for purposes of potential further investigation and\/or charges.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Fearing that its journalists would be targeted, amaBhungane\u2019s attorney wrote to both the police and NPA, assuring them that amaBhungane would co-operate with any investigation and reminding them of the standing order that says police should not use arrests as a form of intimidation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Within hours, we received an email from O\u2019Sullivan threatening to declare war on amaBhungane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c[Y]ou have made yourselves \u2018fair game\u2019. You really should have thought twice before receiving and using stolen property to exact revenge on me,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf you want war, let\u2019s go toe to toe. You try and destroy my reputation and I\u2019ll try and destroy yours. Alternatively, we meet and have an off the record discussion and agree peace terms. If I don\u2019t hear from you, by middle of next week, I shall assume you want that war.\u201d When approached by GroundUp, O\u2019Sullivan said he was not acting for the Moti Group when he made these threats. Meanwhile, Moti took to Tiktok to deny that he had laid criminal charges against amaBhungane \u2013 calling it \u201cyet another example of amaBhungane\u2019s smear-mongering\u201d \u2013 then, a day later, he ran a Tiktok poll asking whether his followers thought he should lay criminal charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After amaBhungane sent questions on part 2 of the #MotiFiles \u2013 published yesterday<\/a> \u2013 the legal threats intensified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Moti the journalist<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n On Monday, the Moti Group\u2019s lawyer Ulrich Roux delivered two letters: the first, was a response to our questions about the Moti Group\u2019s secret loan to an Investec employee tasked with limiting the bank\u2019s exposure to the group\u2019s soaring debt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The second letter was from Moti, on a letterhead of the Moti Group, demanding answers to a list of conspiratorial questions about amaBhungane, its funders and editor Sam Sole\u2019s time as a young conscript in the army.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The allegation that Sole was an apartheid spy has previously been aired by Iqbal Surv\u00e9 when some of his own businesses came under scrutiny by amaBhungane. It is untrue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The allegation that amaBhungane\u2019s articles are influenced by a shadowy web of neo-conservative funders is also untrue, and first emerged amongst Twitter bots attempting to discredit the #GuptaLeaks. Although it is easily disproven by reading our funding policy and disclosures on our website<\/a>, it has often been rehashed by those who have found themselves the subjects of amaBhungane\u2019s reporting or their supporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Moti\u2019s theory that he was the victim of a conspiracy, linked to the Zimbabwe elections, had been quietly percolating amongst a handful of anonymous accounts on Twitter. All set up in the past month, the accounts floated the idea that Van Niekerk leaked documents to \u201csabotage the economy\u201d of Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe West will not be happy until Zimbabwe bleeds,\u201d one of the anonymous account wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Thursday, Moti tweeted: \u201cGuys, check this out! \ud83e\udd2f\ud83e\udd2f I told you there’s sometimes bigger at play!\u201d with a link to an article that rehashed the outlandish US-led conspiracy theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the letter from the Moti Group, sent on Monday, Moti says: \u201cwe are conducting our own journalistic investigation with numerous other parties and informants regarding your conduct, which we plan to publish\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Amongst the questions he posed was: \u201c[Who] creates the narrative for Amabhungane? Do your sponsors utilize your organization to advance their own agendas, and if so, what are these agendas?\u201d and \u201cWhy don\u2019t you write any pieces on George Soros?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/amabhungane.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/magazines-1024x927.jpg\")
\n
\n
\n
\n