Court lambasts Manyi's attorney for failing to file papers on time

05 September 2017 - 14:10 By Nomahlubi Jordaan
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Mzwanele Manyi during an interview about his ownership of The New Age newspaper and ANN7 television channel.
Mzwanele Manyi during an interview about his ownership of The New Age newspaper and ANN7 television channel.
Image: VELI NHLAPO

The South Gauteng High Court on Tuesday lashed out at former government spin doctor Mzwanele Manyi's instructing attorney for failing to file heads of argument in a defamation case filed by billionaire entrepreneur Magdalena Wierzycka against him.

Wierzycka‚ the outspoken chief executive of Sygnia Asset Management and South Africa’s wealthiest woman‚ has filed an urgent application in the South Gauteng High Court.

She is seeking an order declaring statements Manyi made against her on Twitter and Facebook — including that she was guilty of economic “terrorism” — defamatory.

The matter is due to be argued on Thursday. Last week‚ the court directed both counsels to file their heads of argument by 2pm on Monday‚ but only Wierzycka's counsel met the deadline. Judge Bashier Vally did not take kindly to Kagiso Dinaka's "attitude" and "behaviour" in failing to file the heads on time.

"There was a directive from myself that the heads must be filed on Monday at 2pm‚"Vally said.

Dinaka told the court that he did not think it was urgent to file the heads as both counsels had agreed that the matter should be heard on Thursday.

"The attitude of not filing heads must stop. That conduct is unacceptable. It doesn't allow the court to do its job‚" Vally asserted.

The court was also told that Dinaka's personal assistant had refused to give the registrar his cell phone number when she called his office to enquire about the heads of argument.

Vally directed Dinaka to file an affidavit explaining why he did not file the heads of argument timeously and for Manyi's counsel to file the heads of argument by 4pm on Tuesday.

In an affidavit filed in court‚ Wierzycka said Manyi's statements against her on social media amounted to harassment and she wants the court to interdict him from publishing any further "defamatory" statements.

She also wants the court to direct Manyi to issue an unconditional apology and retraction on social media and remove the statements on all the platforms they were posted on.

Manyi‚ however‚ is denying that his comments were defamatory.

He says the court should strike the matter from the roll as it is not urgent.

Manyi’s company‚ Lodidox‚ recently bought ANN7 and The New Age from Oakbay‚ a company belonging to the controversial Gupta family for a combined R450-million. The deal is a vendor-finance transaction which means the funding for the transaction will come from Oakbay.

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