The Durban High court has ruled that a tweet by former president Jacob Zuma in which he called his former tourism minister Derek Hanekom an 'enemy agent', constitutes defamation.
In a hard-hitting judgment, Judge Daya Pillay ordered that Zuma remove the post from his Twitter timeline within 24 hours and apologise.
Zuma’s publication of his tweet was and continues to be unlawful," she ruled.
Pillay ordered Zuma to tweet the following apology within 24 hours:
On 25 July 2019, I published a tweet which alleges that Derek Hanekom is a known enemy agent. I unconditionally withdraw this allegation and apologise for making it as it is false.
"The respondent is interdicted from publishing any statement that says or implies that the applicant is or was an enemy agent or an apartheid spy," said Pillay. "The interdict in the preceding paragraph does not bar the respondent from testifying truthfully, as he is required to, at the judicial commission of inquiry into allegations of state capture."
Pillay reserved awarding the sought damages R500,000, saying this still needed to be determined through oral evidence. She did, however, hit Zuma with a cost order.
The judgement relied heavily on the political history of Zuma, Hanekom and the ANC.
- African News Agency (ANA)
