Mail & Guardian Reporter
JUDGE Edwin Cameron was hauled into the spotlight in the Pretoria Supreme Court last week when one of his brothers, Judge Pierre Roux, took the unusual step of needling him and his recent landmark defamation judgment.
While judges delight in torpedoing each other’s judgments, they rarely gun for each other’s personalities in open court. But Judge Roux last week did just that during Gray Security Services v City Press.
Lawyers say it was a crucial test run for the Cameron judgment, which obliges those alleging defamation to prove the material was published unreasonably. Cameron held that newspapers exercising their right to free speech should be protected by the Constitution even if false defamatory remarks relating to free and fair political activity are published — unless the plaintiff can establish the publisher acted unreasonably.
When Gilbert Marcus, SC, acting for City Press, cited the judgment, Judge Roux intervened: “But isn’t [Judge] Cameron just criticising other judges he doesn’t like … he likes to criticise.”