Ace Magashule did not withdraw defamation case, say lawyers

ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule has not withdrawn a defamation case against Buyisile Ngqulwana, but requested a new court date.

This is according to Magashule's legal representatives, Victor Nkhwashu Attorneys.

The law firm released a statement on Wednesday after reports at the weekend said Magashule had withdrawn the case and was facing a lawsuit from Ngqulwana.

But his lawyers said Magashule was going ahead with suing Ngqulwana for defamation after the latter accused Magashule of being instrumental in the formation of political party ATM.

“Our office has sought and was granted the date of March 26 2020 for the hearing of the defamation suit,” said Victor Nkhwashu.

“Unfortunately, our lead counsel became unavailable due to an unrelated appeal matter ... at the Bloemfontein High Court.

“As a result, our office notified the registrar of the high court to allocate us a new date, which has been allocated. For this process to take place, the matter has to be removed from the court’s roll of March 26 2020.

“We place on record that the matter between our client against Mr Ngqulwana is not withdrawn, but will be heard on April 30 2020 in the high court in Bloemfontein.”