OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 5.00pm.
JUSTICE H. Squires of the Pietermarizburg Supreme Court has reserved judgment on the interdict brought by the Inkatha Freedom Party against the Mail & Guardian. The IFP sought to force the M&G to withdraw last Friday’s paper, which carried the article “How IFP milked KwaZulu-Natal of millions”, and withhold publication of a follow-up article this week.
The IFP contacted the M&G on Wednesday, demanding that last Friday’s issue be withdrawn from all retailers in KwaZulu-Natal. The M&G refused.
The IFP’s interdict sought to order the withdrawal of the offending issue, and any other published references to it, and would, if granted, prohibit the M&G from publishing any further articles “defamatory” to the IFP on the same subject.
Speaking on Thursday during argument, Judge Squires said the original article, apart from its headline, seemed well-researched and balanced, and that he saw no reason to prohibit publication of the forthcoming article.
The application for the interdict was made by IFP general secretary Melchizedec Khumalo, who is a leading aide of Chief Mangosotho Buthelezi. Khumalo was exposed by the M&G in 1991 as a conduit in the Inkathagate scandal.
Gordon Richings SC, acting on behalf of the IFP, said in his heads of argument that the party may suffer further harm. He said the newspaper “having alighted upon such a sensational story, may well elaborate at a later date” and added that the IFP planned to sue for defamation.
Should the case proceed, it may determine whether a political party, as opposed to an individual, can in fact sue for defamation.
In court papers, one of the authors of the article, Mungo Soggot, said the allegations printed “form the subject matter of police investigations which have been continuing for at least one year”. He said the primary source of the allegations, businessman Satesh Isseri, has been under a witness protection programme for at least one year.
Justice Squires will deliver his judgement on Friday.