The frame is not the art: A case for dignity in the face of egregious muckraking

Publicity department

In the spectre of public opinion, there is a profound difference between the pursuit of truth and the pursuit of a scandal. When a man of immense philanthropic stature and global impact is dragged before the court of public opinion, the burden of proof must never be replaced by the weight of insinuation.

At the centre of this tempest stands a Black businessman whose rise from hawker to international council member is not merely a personal triumph, but a testament to the resilience of the human spirit. Yet, in a display of breathtaking perfidy, amaBhungane has chosen to frame a legitimate legal process as a labyrinth of deceit, sacrificing fairness for the fleeting childish thrill of muckraking.

The Disciple of Due Process

It is a tragic irony that a man who has consistently chosen the high road is accused of hiding in the shadows. When confronted with the heavy, unproven allegations surrounding the R70 million "flip," Mampeule and his legal team chose the most dignified route available: they refused to engage in a public trial by media, instead demanding that the actual process of the law be allowed to run its course.

However, the media house has twisted this honourable strategy into a nefarious one. The team’s decision to channel all queries through a single, unified spokesman—a standard corporate governance practice designed to prevent confusion and misrepresentation who issued a response to each person involved — has been cynically portrayed by amaBhungane as "collusion to hide wrongdoing."

It is a masterclass in bad faith, a spectre of suspicion conjured from nothing. In their eyes, speaking out is grandstanding, and remaining silent is collusion. It is a trap from which no honest man can escape, designed solely to hang dirty laundry in public.

When dealing with those who are all about perfidy and muckraking, the less said, the better; and Mampeule’s silence was not a confession, but a quiet rebuke of their circus a circus wherein they arrogate to themselves the right to cast aspersions on the dignity of Black businessmen who dare succeed against all odds.

The Presumption of Innocence

An active police investigation is not a conviction. It is a procedural step. To treat a pending probe as a fait accompli of guilt is to dismantle the very pillars of justice upon which our society stands.

Rali Mampeule’s legal team has categorically denied the allegations of an unfair property flip, pointing to the genuine risks taken—including over R2 million spent on geotechnical surveys to enhance the property's actual value. Yet, the investigators are hellbent on ignoring the substance of his defense, choosing instead to weaponize the emotional testimony of a grieving daughter as if it were a gavel-blow of undeniable fact.

What they have done is what many white property developers have done in the past with no casting of aspersions on their conduct or on their persons as Amabhungane has done so egregiously in their hatchet job of Rali Mampeule,shame on them. A few years ago a poor Coloured plumber registered on the Western Cape Government list of service providers. One day out of the blue he received a call and was given a multimillion rand contract to install toilets in the Delft housing project.

The WC government guided him and assisted him in getting finance till the WC government pays him for services rendered. He took the contract and went to his bank and they gave him a few million rand to buy more vehicles, tools and funds to employ more workers.

Was the bank manager wrong in giving a poor Coloured plumber with a old bakkie and one casual worker many millions to install toilets for the WC government? No based on a valid contract and due diligence the bank gladly payed over the money thereby making it possible to change the life of a poor plumber.

When it comes to housing development especially in mining areas thorough ground testing must be done and bulk services need to be supplied for serviced plots even before any building is initiated. For bulk services approval takes nearly ten years and only recently has government accellerated the

process of supplying bulk services. Huge investment needs to be done prior to any houses being built and it leads to many black developers losing out. Now Amabhungane are all intelligent guys who KNOW these facts but they know the general public is not aware of the nitty gritty minutae involved in providing housing to the public so they don't let these facts get in the way of portraying a dooming report to the public.

Every report they publish is connected to a person and over hundred articles they have published has the intention to undermine the dignity and the admiration our Black youth has and pride in our successful Black business leaders. And Rali Mampeule is a leader a Black leader of the utmost integrity as many will testify.

When the Gauteng government pays over such a huge amount do Amabhungane really think the Departmental officials are stupid or are they complicity in corruption? That is the image Amabhungane wants to general black public to get , they must lose confidence in the Black ruling party. Is only whites competent and good enough to govern? Certainly in the eyes of Amabhungane based on the targetted character assassination of Black business leaders as has been their wont for many years now.

The Undermining of Dignity

The most egregious sin in this narrative is the assault on dignity. In their zealous pursuit to frame a Black success story as a racialized cautionary tale, the journalists have elevated unverified, emotionally charged family testimony to the status of absolute truth.

They have chosen to strip Mampeule of his presumption of innocence, painting a wealthy pioneer as a predator preying on a dying man. This is classical racist trope where the word of a white person is accepted as gospel with beyond any questioning when weighted against the words of a Black man of the dignified standing and profound public image of Rali Mampeule. What is conveniently forgotten is the fabric of his character.

Here is a man who has delivered thousands of housing stands, connected half a million homes to the internet, funded over 90 bursaries, and helped save countless lives through global health initiatives. This is the artist’s true masterpiece.

Looking Forward

Mampeule did not BS the queries; he chose decorum. amaBhungane claims to hold power to account, yet their refusal to extend basic fairness to a Black industrialist reveals an ugly, archaic racist bias lurking beneath their veneer of professionalism. To judge the frame before examining the art is a disservice to the public.

The law must decide this case, not the sensationalist headlines of a publication more interested in dirty laundry than due process and the pursuit of justice.

By Black Excellence Network RSA