Steve Hofmeyr loses to bad-mouthed puppet
KENSINGTON B – Afrikaans singer cannot gag the infamous Chester Missing.
Afrikaans singer Steve Hofmeyr will now bear the full force of puppet Chester Missing’s insulting tweets on Twitter. This after the court order to prevent ventriloquist and comedian Conrad Koch from using his puppet to harass Hofmeyr on social media was set aside at the Randburg Magistrate’s Court on 27 November.
Koch and his puppet were in court opposing a protection order Steve Hofmeyr secured against them on 05 November (see previous article). After hearing arguments by lawyers on both sides, Dan Roodt for Hofmeyr and Steve Budlender for Koch, magistrate Naren Sewarain said the court was not satisfied that the protection order should be maintained. The reasons for which, he said he might disclose at a later stage.
Also, Hofmeyr and Roodt were ordered to pay the costs of council for Koch, which would be the fees Koch would have paid to Budlender for his legal service for the day. “We are very happy,” Koch said afterwards. “We dealt racism a blow today.” He added that “of course” he will tweet to Hofmeyr again.
The legal battle began after Hofmeyr tweeted on 23 October, “Sorry to offend but in my books blacks were the architects of apartheid. Go figure.” Koch responded, using his puppet’s Twitter account, with various degrading tweets, which prompted the order. After the order was issued, Koch made three further tweets, including the phrases, “F*#k you ugly face” and “by the time I am done with you even your dog will think you are a c*nt”.
Roodt argued that Koch contravened the Protection from Harassment Act by defaming and causing harm to Hofmeyr. He concluded that if Sewarain annulled the court order, it would set a precedent for a free-for-all for public figures to defame each other without repercussions.
Budlender argued that because racism is a matter of public importance, Hofmeyr is a public figure, and Twitter is a public forum, Koch’s tweets concerning racism demonstrated in Hofmeyr’s tweets were of public interest and thus ‘not unreasonable’, provided they were without malice and facts reported were true.
Attorney Tracey Lomax commented that it was “extremely unusual” for an applicant to pay the costs of the council for the respondent, and this only happens when the applicant brings forward a “frivolous case”.
Details: Randburg Magistrates’ Court 011 998 5300.
