Trevor Manuel welcomes appeal court’s finding on EFF’s appeal

Former finance minister Trevor Manuel has, through his legal team, welcomed the Supreme Court of Appeal’s (SCA’s) finding that a statement the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) issued last year accusing him of nepotism and corruption, was indeed defamatory.

Of the appellate court’s decision to overturn the R500,000 in damages he was previously awarded, meanwhile, Manuel’s lawyer, Dario Milo, said on Thursday they were still discussing next steps.

“We welcome the judgment finding that the EFF’s statements about Mr Manuel were false, defamatory and unlawful, that they must be taken down within 24 hours and that the EFF can’t repeat them,” Milo said.

“In relation to the referral for oral evidence of the damages award and the apology, we are discussing the way forward with our client.”

A Twitter war erupted between the EFF and Manuel last March, after party MP Mbuyiseni Ndlozi issued a statement in response to news that Edward Kieswetter had been selected as the new commissioner of the South African Revenue Service (Sars).

EFF leader Julius Malema also shared the statement, which labelled Kieswetter – who was appointed to the position at the recommendation of a panel chaired by Manuel – a “dodgy character” who was “not just a relative of Trevor Manuel, but a close business associate and companion” and charged that Manuel had “unlawfully” appointed him as deputy commissioner previously.

Manuel – who vehemently denied the allegations – ended up turning to the South Gauteng High Court, where Judge Elias Matojane last May found in his favour and ordered the EFF to take the statement down, apologise, and cough up R500,000 in damages. The judge also interdicted the party from repeating the allegations.

ALSO READ: SCA overturns Trevor Manuel’s R500k damages award against EFF

After an unsuccessful attempt to appeal Matojane’s ruling in the high court, the EFF turned to the SCA where arguments were heard last month and judgment was delivered yesterday.

The SCA wound up upholding the party’s appeal in part, finding the South Gauteng High Court jumped the gun by making the award – and ordering an apology – without hearing oral evidence first. The case has now been referred back to the court to hear oral evidence and reconsider the issue of damages together with the order for an apology.

But the appellate court found the South Gauteng High Court had been on the money in terms of the statement being defamatory and upheld the order that it be removed within 24 hours, tearing into the EFF for not verifying the contents – based on information from an undisclosed source – before releasing it.

“Had steps been taken to check the accuracy of the source’s information and no basis for them discovered, that would have dictated the need to take far greater care before publishing. Other routes of enquiry could have been explored. The obvious one would have been to address Mr Manuel or Mr Kieswetter directly and ask whether the allegations were true,” judges Mahomed Navsa and Malcolm Wallis said in handing down the appellate court’s ruling.

“The problem for the EFF in approaching Mr Manuel directly was that, if the answer was that the allegations were untrue, it would remove a potential political weapon from their arsenal.”

The EFF did not respond to questions from The Citizen. However, Ndlozi quote tweeted a video of a laughing baby atop a News24 report of the story.

https://t.co/SxrBNF8Gv5 pic.twitter.com/OuRqI1Zov8

— Mbuyiseni Ndlozi (@MbuyiseniNdlozi) December 17, 2020

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