Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber Calls Out Journalists After ID Mishap

• The Minister of Home Affairs, Leon Schreiber, took a journalist task, accusing them of sensationalism
• Newzroom Afrika posted a video of an interview with a young woman who struggled to continue with her education because of an ID mishap
• Schreiber replied and said the fault lay with the education officials, and South Africans called journalists out

With over seven years at Daily Sun and Vutivi Business News, Tebogo Mokwena, a Briefly News current affairs journalist, offered insights into South African politics, national, provincial and local governance, the Government of National Unity, political parties and Parliament.

JOHANNESBURG — The Minister of Home Affairs Leon Schreiber defended his department from "sensational journalism" after a clip of an interview went viral.

Schreiber defends Home Affairs

@Leon_Schreib posted a scathing criticism of a Nezroom Arika journalist who posted an interview with a Johannesburg matriculant who claimed her identity was stolen. She said she could not apply for tertiary because of the mishap.

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Schreiber jumped into the fray and slammed the journalist. He said the journalist was "more interested in generating a story" and not helping the teenager. Schreiber confirmed that the Department attended to the issue and found that her identity was not stolen. Instead, the education officials made an error during the exam period.

"It is deeply regrettable when inflammatory stories are valued above factual verification and actually solving problems," he said.

Read the tweet here:

South Africans disappointed in journalists

Netizens furiously tore into the journalist and called out careless journalism.

Rookie said:

"There should be some form of repercussion for these so-called journalists and reporters. The amount of damage, reputational, monetary or otherwise, these sensationalists can cause is incomprehensible."

Alettaha said:

"MSM cannot function if they cannot sensationalize a story."

Katia Beeden said:

"Fake journalism has gotten out of control. When will these journalists be held accountable?"

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Some supported the journalist

SirNgov asked:

"Are you happy that it had to take the media house or journalist to make the department act on what they should've acted on without the matter hitting the headlines?"

Adriaan Boshoff Jr said:

"We all know that if the story was not covered by the media, this girl would not have been assisted."

Home Affairs fired 18 crooked officials

In a related article, Briefly News reported that Home Affairs busted 18 corrupt officials and fired them.

The officials were charged with various offences, including irregularly issuing documents like IDs and asylum documents.

Source: Briefly News