DA wins Nkandla SMS
JOBURG - Constitutional Court rules in favour of the DA regarding the Nkandla SMS saying it was fair comment.
The Constitutional Court has this morning, Monday 19 January, ruled in favour of the Democratic Alliance (DA) over the Nkandla SMS that the party sent out last year during the general elections. The court ruled that the DA was well within their right when they sent out SMSs last year, stating that the president of the country had stolen money.
The legal battle began when the African National Congress (ANC) filed an application with the High Court to have the DA retract the SMS. The high court ruled in favour of the DA and the judge found that the contents of the SMS were fair comment, being that the DA made them on the basis of what the Public Protector’s findings were in the president’s security upgrades at his homestead in Nkadla, KwaZulu-Natal.
The ANC then took to the matter to Electoral Court which ruled against the DA, citing that the SMS that was sent calling Zuma a thief, fell short of fair comment. The matter was then referred to the highest court in the country– the Constitutional Court which ruled in favour of the DA.
