The Mpumalanga High Court has ordered civil activist Joel Pompies Ledwaba to cease making baseless allegations against former deputy president David Mabuza and publicly apologise for his comments.
Ledwaba has previously made startling claims, including that Mabuza has, since his days as Mpumalanga premier, ordered political killings in the province and was aware of the masterminds of political assassinations.
He said upon Mabuza’s ascension to premier, “people started perishing one by one”. He called Mabuza a “political monster who brutalised the people of Mpumalanga”.
The court found the statements were defamatory and “interdicted and restrained” him from saying or writing such statements.
Ledwaba’s defence of “truth, public interest and fair comment” did not stand in court.
He was ordered to apologise on public platforms, including news channels Newzroom Afrika and eNCA and the Citizen newspaper which published his claims.
Mabuza filed the defamation case in December 2021 after letters written by his lawyers failed to produce an apology from Ledwaba.
In his defence, Ledwaba denied that the allegations he made were defamatory, adding such statements had been made publicly about Mabuza for years.
The judgment was delivered on Tuesday and gave Ledwaba two weeks to issue the apology.
He was also ordered to pay the costs of the application.
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Activist who accused David Mabuza of assassinations ordered to apologise
Image: Sandile Ndlovu
The Mpumalanga High Court has ordered civil activist Joel Pompies Ledwaba to cease making baseless allegations against former deputy president David Mabuza and publicly apologise for his comments.
Ledwaba has previously made startling claims, including that Mabuza has, since his days as Mpumalanga premier, ordered political killings in the province and was aware of the masterminds of political assassinations.
He said upon Mabuza’s ascension to premier, “people started perishing one by one”. He called Mabuza a “political monster who brutalised the people of Mpumalanga”.
The court found the statements were defamatory and “interdicted and restrained” him from saying or writing such statements.
Ledwaba’s defence of “truth, public interest and fair comment” did not stand in court.
He was ordered to apologise on public platforms, including news channels Newzroom Afrika and eNCA and the Citizen newspaper which published his claims.
Mabuza filed the defamation case in December 2021 after letters written by his lawyers failed to produce an apology from Ledwaba.
In his defence, Ledwaba denied that the allegations he made were defamatory, adding such statements had been made publicly about Mabuza for years.
The judgment was delivered on Tuesday and gave Ledwaba two weeks to issue the apology.
He was also ordered to pay the costs of the application.
TimesLIVE
Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.
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