Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane is taking EFF leader Julius Malema to court over statements made by Malema while addressing his supporters in KuGompo City last week about Mabuyane’s qualification saga at the University of Fort Hare.
Among the relief Mabuyane seeks are orders declaring the statements made by Malema to be defamatory, false and unlawful.
Mabuyane also wants the high court to interdict Malema from conducting interviews or making further statements that say or imply that Mabuyane stole a master’s degree at the University of Fort Hare, or that he fraudulently obtained a master’s degree from the University of Fort Hare.
The litigation comes after Malema refused a demand made by Mabuyane to apologise and retract the remarks he made last Thursday.
Mabuyane had given Malema until this Wednesday to apologise and retract his utterances.
In a detailed response sent to Mabuyane’s lawyers by England Slabbert Attorneys, the legal representative of Malema said that if Mabuyane proceeded to institute any proceedings against Malema, their instructions were to oppose or defend such proceedings, and to ”join the president, the SIU and the university to such proceedings, due to the issues that are likely to arise and the interest that they are bound to have in the litigation”.
These utterances have falsely impugned the premier’s integrity, dignity and reputation.
— Sonwabo Mbananga, Oscar Mabuyane’s spokesperson
The office of the premier on Friday confirmed Mabuyane launched legal proceedings against Malema in the high court on Thursday, a day after Malema refused to back down.
Mabuyane’s spokesperson, Sonwabo Mbananga, said Mabuyane took the step following a “pattern of repeated and widely circulated defamatory statements made by Mr Malema across various public platforms. These utterances have falsely impugned the premier’s integrity, dignity and reputation, and have been advanced without any lawful or factual basis.
“The allegations are baseless, harmful and constitute a serious violation of the premier’s rights. They have been recklessly made and presented as fact, despite being untested and without evidence,” Mbananga said.
He said Mabuyane remains “committed to the rule of law and has chosen to place the matter before the courts so that the truth may be determined through proper legal process, rather than through reckless public statements and political grandstanding.
“The premier will not allow his name, reputation and public office to be used as a target for false and defamatory attacks. Further updates will be provided as the matter progresses through the courts.”
In a letter to Mabuyane’s lawyers this week, Malema’s lawyers said Mabuyane registered at the University of Fort Hare for the degree in 2020, and allegations later came to light indicating that “your client’s registration into the master’s degree programme was irregular in that he was registered into the programme without meeting the minimum requirements.
Your client’s research proposal and/or thesis were improperly produced by ‘ghost writers’.
— Malema’s lawyers
“In addition, it emerged that your client’s research proposal and/or thesis were improperly produced by ‘ghost writers’, comprising university officials and researchers, and not by your client.
“As a result of the impropriety that the university discovered around your client’s registration and participation in the master’s programme, the university took a decision to deregister your client as its student. The university also appointed a forensics firm, Horizon Forensics, to investigate and report, inter alia, on the improprieties relating to your client for the registration of the master’s degree.
“In addition, due to wide-ranging allegations of improper awarding of degrees at the university, in 2022 the president of the Republic of South Africa issued Proclamation 84 of 2022 published in Government Gazette No 47199 on August 5 2022, in terms of which he commissioned the Special Investigating Unit to conduct an investigation into, inter alia, maladministration in the affairs of the university’s faculty of public administration in relation to the awarding of honours degrees.
“Your client’s registration and conduct relating to his master’s degree programme is the subject of the foregoing SIU investigation, which is currently under way,” Malema’s lawyers said.
They said in 2023 that Mabuyane went so far as to apply for an urgent interdict against the president, the SIU and the university, seeking to prevent the SIU from implementing the proclamation insofar as it was directed at him, pending a part B hearing.
“Through the interdict application, he ultimately sought to prevent an investigation into the impropriety of his registration and conduct, on the basis that the proclamation did not encompass an investigation into master’s degrees,” the lawyers said.
“When the proclamation expired, the SIU approached the president again for a new proclamation. Indeed, a new proclamation was issued in 2024, which widened the scope of investigation to incorporate the improprieties relating to master’s degrees at the university.
We record that the facts relating to your client’s deregistration from the university are well known by the public.
— Malema’s lawyers
“This investigation is still ongoing, and a report is awaited by the public. We record that the facts relating to your client’s deregistration from the university are well known by the public as they have been widely published in the media since at least July 2023. The facts are therefore firmly in the public domain.”
Malema’s lawyers said Mabuyane cannot “reasonably hold our client liable for reflecting on an issue that is based on widely spread allegations, which were already in the public domain. The client made the impugned statements with the intention to call on the authorities to finalise the long-standing investigation into maladministration at the university, particularly in regard to political leaders, such as the Eastern Cape premier, who are implicated in improper conduct regarding the awarding of degrees.
“Our client did not intend, nor did he have any interest in, defaming your client. Our client expressed an opinion about your client’s conduct, which was premised on the publicly well-known facts of the university’s decision to deregister your client as its student, as well as on the Horizon Forensics report, which is referenced in the judgment in your client’s interdict application.
“In addition to this, various media publications recorded that the Horizon Forensics report reflected that there were irregularities with your client’s registration into the master’s programme.
“The comments made by our client in regard to your client’s conduct, which is well-known in the public, constituted fair comment; alternatively truth and in the public interest.
“The urgency, importance and public interest of finalising the long-standing investigation and acting against leaders that are implicated in the improper conduct concerning degrees is especially evident in the case of your client, who is implicated, and against whom the university has already taken some corrective action. It is also well-known that your client is standing for the chairmanship of the ANC’s Eastern Cape provincial executive council for a third term, and that he is being punted as the next deputy president of the country.
“Accordingly our client declines your demand for an apology and retraction. Should your client proceed to institute any proceedings against our client, be they urgent or otherwise, our instructions are to oppose or defend such proceedings, and to join the president, the SIU and the university to such proceedings due to the issues that are likely to arise and the interest that they are bound to have in the litigation.”
Daily Dispatch
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.