The high court has rejected an application by the EFF to appeal an order that the party and its leaders — Julius Malema and Mbuyiseni Ndlozi — pay R500 000 in damages to former finance minister Trevor Manuel for defamation.
The high court has rejected an application by the Economic Freedom Fighters to appeal an order that the party and its leaders — Julius Malema and Mbuyiseni Ndlozi — pay R500 000 in damages to former finance minister Trevor Manuel for defamation.
He said the EFF, Malema and Ndlozi could not rely on the defence that the statement was true and made in the public interest — as they had expressly conceded that the statement was false. Further, the pair could not rely on their statement being political speech. He also described as “astonishing” the EFF’s argument that a reasonable reader would be used to the statement as consistent with the EFF’s “colourful rhetoric style”.
The EFF could not rely on the defence that their publishing the statement was reasonable, he added. They did not attempt to verify the truth of the statement from their “confidential source”, nor had they offered Manuel an opportunity to respond.
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