By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Western Cape High Court has ordered the former Democratic Alliance (DA) leader, Mmusi Maimane, to pay R475 000 in damages to four plaintiffs in a defamation case against him.
The plaintiffs (Shaun August, Suzette Ann Little, Gregchan Garreth Barnardo, and Thulani Stemelewere) were former members of the municipal council in the City of Cape Town.
They had instituted action against Maimane for the statements he made in a publication in October 2018 that they left because a law firm had recommended in its report that criminal charges be laid against the then-outgoing Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille for alleged corruption.
All four had resigned as DA councillors when Maimane told the media a day after the resignations that the Bowman’s Report had “made serious findings against those people, they must be investigated.”
He wrote in the DA newsletter: “… a credible forensic investigation by a credible legal firm has allegedly implicated them in tender irregularities, the DA is suddenly a racist party.”
“These five councillors have resigned, claiming racial victimhood. Can it be coincidence that they have suddenly decided the DA is racist now that they stand accused of maladministration?”
He did not apologise when the four called on him to retract his statement and apologize.
Acting Judge Susan van Zyl said Maimane made his plea statement in the matter in February 2019, but in March 2023, just days before the trial, he amended his plea and finally apologised and made a full retraction of the statements.
He also offered to pay the former councillors R35,000 each in compensation and costs.
“The plaintiffs rejected the apology and the tender as being ‘too little, too late’, “said acting judge van Zyl.
She ordered Maimane to pay August R100,000 in damages, Little and Stemele R120,000 each, and Barnardo R135,000. Costs were also awarded on the High Court scale.