Imvume Management, the company at the centre of the Oilgate debacle, has launched a court action to force the Mail & Guardian to expose its confidential sources.
On Thursday last week the company lodged an application in the Johannesburg High Court to compel the M&G, among other things, to disclose how the newspaper acquired information relating to Imvume’s bank account and ”the precise source” of such information.
In an affidavit setting out his case, Imvume boss Sandi Majali notes: ”There is an obvious ‘leak’ whereby [Imvume’s] confidential information is finding its way into the hands of the respondents. [Imvume] is entitled to know the source of this ‘leak’ to enable it to take steps to stop the leak and prevent the unauthorised disclosure of information from whatever that source may be.”
Earlier this year the M&G published information, including an extract from a bank statement, showing that in December 2003, within days of receiving an advance payment of R15-million from state oil company PetroSA, Imvume had paid more than R11-million to the African National Congress.
When Imvume defaulted on paying its foreign supplier, PetroSA stepped in and paid the same amount a second time.
M&G editor Ferial Haffajee said Imvume wanted the newspaper to disclose its sources: ”We will not do so. Journalism, globally, is facing threats to the principle of protecting confidential sources. This is the most significant post- apartheid challenge to the protection of sources in this country. We look forward to fighting it, though we have put out requests for financial assistance with our mounting legal bills.”
The court application also seeks to interdict the newspaper from further publishing or disclosing any information relating to the bank account or pursuing any further investigation in regard to the bank account.
Imvume wants the court to order the M&G to disclose the precise details of all documents relating to Imvume’s bank account that the newspaper has or may have had and to hand over any such documents to Imvume.
Majali argues that the M&G obtained copies of Imvume’s bank documentation unlawfully and was not entitled to publish information or pursue investigations based on such material.
”Their [the M&G’s] acquisition and possession thereof is illegal and unlawful and which constitutes an invasion of [Imvume’s] right to privacy and to the sanctity of its commercial documentation …
”The [M&G] ought not, in the first place, to be in possession of [Imvume’s] confidential information and banking documentation at all and moreover, ought not be allowed to make use thereof … including for publication thereof or any investigative process whatsoever.”
Imvume argues that the M&G should pay its legal costs on a punitive scale given the M&G’s conduct.
Majali has brought the application notwithstanding written assurance from the M&G’s attorneys that the paper is no longer in possession of any such documentation.
Majali suggests this claim is ”unsubstantiated” and that it is evidence that the M&G ”recognise their possession of the documents is unlawful and are merely deploying tactics to evade a legitimate claim that they disclose such documents”.
Jane Duncan, executive director of the Freedom of Expression Institute, said the application was ”the latest in the series of bullying tactics by Imvume to stop the M&G from reporting on a matter that is of considerable public interest”.
South African National Editors Forum (Sanef) chairperson Joe Thloloe commented: ”Sanef is appalled that this matter has come back to our courts, tying up the limited resources of a great campaigning newspaper.”
Thloloe expressed hope that the court would ”not decide against the freedom of the media … to investigate and expose any wrongdoing in our country”.
The ANC has also renewed its legal attack on the M&G. The party sued the paper following an initial story in February last year about the ANC’s role in oil deals with the Iraqi regime under Saddam Hussein.
Although the party had not applied for a court date more than a year later, it has renewed the suit this month, following the M&G’s recent revelations about the very close involvement of the party in Imvume’s Iraqi oil ventures.
In November last year the M&G won an order to compel the ANC to set out specific details of what in the earlier article was inaccurate and defamatory. The party has yet to comply, but has taken the unusual step of applying for leave to appeal this so-called ”interlocutory” ruling.