Telkom has dropped a R5-million damages action against Gregg Stirton’s website hellkom.co.za, which he launched in response to the telecomms giant’s “incredibly high prices”.
The website features the “Hellkom Vent”, where users can publish their frustrations with the fixed-line operator; a selection of subverted Telkom logos such as “Hellkom — prices that will make you sweat”; and links to surveys showing that the utility is the most expensive fixed-line licensee in the world.
It is understood the decision was heavily influenced by the Constitutional Court’s rejection of SAB/Miller’s suit against brand satirist Laugh It Off Promotions.
Stirton said he was not surprised Telkom had backed off, as he believed they did not have a case. “They thought I’d chicken out, but I was the one who applied for the court date,” he scoffed.
The website was launched in January last year by graphic designer Stirton, who said he was incensed that South Africa’s poorest could not afford Telkom lines or cellphone charges.
He said he had been astonished by the public response. “It appears a lot of people are unhappy with Telkom.”
The company has agreed to pay all his legal costs, which he said were considerable.
When Telkom initially launched the case, Stirton hit back with a statement on his website’s front page which read, in part: “This reminds me of the schoolyard scene we see in movies all too often: Bully versus Little Kid, everyone watches. A scuffle ensues. Punches land, hair is pulled. Everyone boos Bully. Bully shunned from playground and becomes underdog. A simple chain of events, and as they say, history always repeats itself.”
Welcoming Telkom’s decision to drop the case, the trade union Solidarity said the website was one of the first to criticise Telkom when it wanted to lay off 4 000 workers last year, despite making profits of R4,5-billion and management receiving R48-million in bonuses.
The Freedom of Expression Institute’s (FXI) Jane Duncan congratulated Stirton “for persevering in the face of Telkom’s bullying tactics”. She hoped that together with the Laugh It Off judgement, the Telkom decision would “dissuade big corporations from trampling on the free expression of rights of social commentators in future”.
Said Telkom spokesperson Lulu Letlape: “The case was not worth it for us. It did not make sense strategically to pursue it.”