On 19 September 2005, MWeb, the co-owner and host of the Mail and Guardian Online, received a subpoena issued under Section 205 of the Criminal Procedure Act demanding that the company deliver up records related to the online publication of a bank statement belonging to the oil company, Imvume Management.
The police investigation appears to stem from the so-called, "Oilgate" story involving a series of articles in the Mail and Guardian allegedly showing how the oil company diverted money to fund the political campaign of the ruling African National Congress during the April 2004 general elections.
According to the subpoena, the charge currently being investigated by the commercial branch head office at police headquarters in Pretoria is contempt of court, arising from the Mail and Guardian's decision to keep the excerpt from the bank statement on its Website, allegedly in defiance of an earlier gag order issued by the courts.
In late May 2005, in a civil action initiated by Imvume Management, the Johannesburg High Court ordered the Mail and Guardian not to print a sequel to an article on the "Oilgate" scandal. The court's decision forced the newspaper, at short notice and considerable cost, to make rapid alterations to its editions. In arguments before the court, lawyers acting for the oil company claimed that information for the story had been obtained illegally and that the newspaper had infringed the company's constitutional right to privacy and dignity.
The Director of the International Press Institute (IPI), Johann P. Fritz, said, "While Section 205 may be important for the administration of justice, its framers did not intend for it to be applied against the media in the hunt for confidential sources. Journalists should be exempted when writing about issues clearly in the public interest."
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"There is no doubt that the articles written by the Mail and Guardian were in the public interest. The South African public have a right to understand how their money is being used and media organisations have an attendant right to protect their sources in order to provide them with this understanding."
"Rather than seeking to penalise the media who have publicised this issue, the investigating authorities should be seeking those involved in this scandal."
"Governments may not like the media, they may not like the embarrassing stories they uncover, but they should respect them and accept that, in a modern democracy, they are performing an essential duty," Fritz said.
