The Mail & Guardian on Thursday won an important victory for media freedom in the Johannesburg High Court.
Judge Suretta Snyders dismissed with costs an urgent interdict application brought against the paper by Maanda Manyatshe, the former chief executive officer of the South African Post Office (Sapo), and current head of MTN South Africa.
Manyatshe last week sought to prevent the M&G from publishing a story detailing allegations of possible fraud, violations of tender rules, and contraventions of the Public Finance Management Act that took place while he was head of Sapo.
Manyatshe’s legal team had argued that his rights to privacy, dignity and reputation should outweigh the M&G‘s right to free speech.
But Snyders disagreed, ruling that the media had a constitutional duty to assist in uncovering wrongdoing and bringing it to the attention of the public.
Snyders said that the seriousness of the allegations against Manyatshe, his failure to give a proper response to the M&G or in his version to the court, and his public stature “persuades me of the reasonableness” of publishing the exposé.
Said associate deputy editor Nic Dawes, “We are delighted with the outcome, not only because it enables us to tell a story that we think is important, but because it helps to reaffirm the constitutional role of a free media as agent of the democratic process”
Manyatshe was granted an interim interdict late on September 14 by High Court Judge Mohammed Jajbhay. This put the matter beyond the paper’s print deadline meaning that the story could not be published.
Jajbhay granted an interim order prohibiting the M&G from “publishing, disclosing, or in any way disseminating information or documentation in any manner relating or pertaining to or arising from” a set of questions that the M&G had earlier sent Manyatshe.
Jajbhay stressed that he was not making his ruling on the merits of the matter, and that the M&G might be permitted to publish the story once the application had been fully “ventilated” in court.
Manyatshe was represented by attorney Barry Aaron, who previously secured an interim interdict for oil company Imvume during one phase of the M&G‘s major Oilgate exposé last year.
Manyatshe applied for the court order in his personal capacity, and not as MTN boss. Manyatshe, who left Sapo in October 2004, to take up his post at MTN, was widely credited with helping to turn around the fortunes of the parastatal, bringing it to profitability for the first time.
The M&G declined to give such an undertaking and took legal advice on opposing the application on Thursday morning. The paper gerenally regards the application of pre-publication restraint as a significant leash on press freedom.
The article will appear in Friday’s edition and will be published on the M&G Online.