Government launches its own newspaper

The South African government is launching a newspaper to rectify media censorship of government information, government spokesman Jimmy Manyi has said.

Mr Manyi said it was the government's responsibility to ensure media did not selectively publish government news. It is turning its bi-monthly magazine into a free monthly newspaper called Vuk'uzenzele, which means "Wake up and do it for yourself" in Zulu, he said.

With a run of more than 1.7 millon copies, It will be South Africa's biggest circulation newspaper when it launches next month, Mr Manyi said.

He said the media had neglected to report on the progress the government had made.

"Everything I say is very important for the public to know, therefore we can't leave it up to the media to decide what they're going to tell the public," he said.