Pro-Zuma
website loses defamation suit |
Publication |
Sunday Times |
Reporter | Bianca Capazorio |
Date | 2013-12-01 |
The continued publication of the
claims was a defamatory act
ARMS-DEAL
whistleblower Richard Young this
week won a defamation suit against the
Friends of Jacob
Zuma Trust and was awarded R270
000 in damages by the High Court in Cape
Town.
The matter relates to two posts on the
Friends of Jacob
Zuma website in January 2008 that
attacked Young and his company, CCII
Systems. The posts called him a member
of the Broederbond
and a traitor and accused his military
information technology company of
receiving contracts by corrupt methods.
The trust and the website were set up to
support Zuma
and raise funds when he was fired as
deputy president. Neither have been
active since Zuma
was elected, but the website remains
live.
Young sought damages of R500 000 each
for himself and his company from
trustees Fikile
Majola,
Sizwe
Shezi and
Donald Mkhwanazi.
The trust argued that the three men were
not the administrators of the website
and had no control over what was posted.
The posts on the site were made in the
spirit of debate and were protected by
the constitutional right to free speech,
they said.
But Judge Yasmin
Shenaz Meer
found “it is not possible for the trust
to sustain the plea that it was not
aware of the posting on the website,
given that the posts have been there in
excess of five-and-a-half years”.
She said the continued publication of
the claims against Young was a
defamatory act. “Even after the defence
became aware of the postings, they were
not removed,” Meer said.
She rejected the freedom of speech
argument. The evidence “simply does not
support” the argument that the claims
were made “in the pursuance of a
legitimate debate in the exercise of
freedom of expression”.
Apart from the damages award, Meer
ordered that the posts be removed.
Young said he had taken the matter to
court as a matter of principle, and
because he believed there was a public
interest aspect to the case.
Although the award “was not that big
money-wise”, the judgment was one of the
first in which “a website like this has
been found guilty of defamation”, he
said.
With acknowledgement to
Bianca Capazorio and Sunday Times.