Rupiah sues chief Chisunka
By Namatama Mundia
Mon 02 Apr. 2012, 13:00 CAT
RUPIAH Banda has sued chief Chisunka, claiming damages for defamation and libel over two articles that were published in The Post alleging that he had stolen a lot of money.
According to a statement of claim filed in the Lusaka High Court, Banda is also seeking an injunction to restrain the defendants either jointly or individually from further publishing or causing or authorising to be published the same or similar libellous statements.
Banda sued chief Chisunka Justin Chilufya Haakamwaya following an interview he gave to The Post, which the articles were published both electronically and by hard copy on November 10, 2011 and January 1, 2012 under the headline ‘Rupiah Banda has stolen a lot' and ‘Rupiah Banda was like a monkey in a maize field', respectively.
Banda, through his lawyers Messrs Central Chambers, stated that The Post on the material dates published, printed and distributed false and malicious stories following an interview which chief Chisunka gave them.
He added that the defamatory and false newspaper articles were widely circulated throughout Zambia and the world.
"The words printed and published of the defendant chief Chisunka were false and uttered with malice and reckless disregard for truth," Banda said.
"The natural and ordinary meaning of the words in the article is that the plaintiff is a criminal connected to illegal and corrupt deals. The plaintiff is preparing to cheat the Zambian people of their wealth.''
Banda further stated that the words also meant he was not fit to be a political leader and should not hold any political office.
He also stated that words meant that he had been part of an orchestrated scheme to commit fraud and was a tribalist.
Banda added that the defamatory words complained of carried the sting that he was a criminal involved in corruption and illegal dealings which are of very serious nature.
He further stated that the publication of the libellous and slanderous statements have caused immense damage to his reputation and considerate distress to him and his family.
Banda added that he had been subjected to abuse and ridicule in the public as a consequence of the defamatory words complained of.
He stated that chief Chisunka had his telephone number but chose not to get clarification before causing the publication of the articles.
Banda, however, said none of the allegations were true, adding that he had suffered loss and was entitled to damages.
Banda is also claiming aggravated, exemplary and punitive damages and wants interest on any award that may be given at the current ruling bank rate from the date of the writ until payment for costs.
Labels: CHIEF CHISUNKA, DEFAMATION, LIBEL, RUPIAH BANDA
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Given Lubinda challenges online publications to disclose their physical location
TIME PUBLISHED - Tuesday, January 10, 2012, 7:36 am
MINISTER of Information, Broadcasting and Tourism Given Lubinda says owners of online publications should state their identity to make it easier for aggrieved parties to seek redress.
He said publishers hiding their identity should not be allowed to tamper with freedom of speech and press freedom through online publications.
“I know some people are hiding in the fact that they cannot be reached. Everyone running a publication should declare where they are to be found. Cowards must not be allowed to interfere with freedom of speech,” Mr Lubinda said.
He said this when he appeared on a special programme on Zambezi FM in Livingstone yesterday.
Mr Lubinda said the attorney-general’s report on the legal framework within which online publications are operating will soon be presented to Cabinet to address the matter.
A few weeks ago, President Sata directed attorney-general Mumba Malila to investigate the legal framework in which online publications are operating in Zambia following complaints from the public about the stories some of them have been carrying.
The minister also reiterated his advice to the public media to always report fairly and professionally and always remember that they are run on public resources.
He said the public media should not take advantage of the latitude the Patriotic Front government has given them to write defamatory stories because the government will not bail them out in the event that they are found wanting.
He said the public media should not take advantage of the latitude the Patriotic Front government has given them to write defamatory stories because the government will not bail them out in the event that they are found wanting.
Mr Lubinda said the public media should not use the press to settle political scores, but mirror the aspirations of the public.
“From our lesson during the 2011 campaigns, we know how the public media can be deceiving. We would like them to reflect the true aspirations of the people. I appeal to them to do one thing; report accurately, fairly and truthfully,” Mr Lubinda said.
Meanwhile, Mr Lubinda has called on all residents of Livingstone, including street vendors, to support the declaration of the city as a tourist capital. He said street vendors should control their vending.
Mr Lubinda said he wants to see an increase in the quality of tour operators in the city, as they are the ones who help to attract tourists to thecapital.
He said despite Livingstone being the tourist capital of the country, it lacks professionally qualified personnel to run the tourism and hospitality industry.
And asked in a separate interview how much the current technical committee of experts on the constitution is getting, Mr Lubinda said it is not important to know the amount.
“It is not how much has been budgeted for, but the cost of getting the business done, that is what is most important,” Mr Lubinda said.
[Zambia Daily Mail]
Labels: GIVEN LUBINDA, INTERNATIONAL MEDIA, INTERNET, LIBEL, PRESS FREEDOM
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Sata wins damages in libel case against Ronnie
By Mwala Kalaluka
Tue 26 July 2011, 14:00 CAT
THE Lusaka High Court has decided in favour of PF leader Michael Sata in a case where he sued chief government spokesperson Lieutenant General Ronnie Shikapwasha for defamation. The Lusaka High Court, last Thursday, entered a default judgment against Lt Gen Shikapwasha after he failed to avail himself before the court in a case where Sata sued him for libel and slander.
This is a matter where Sata, leader of the country’s largest opposition party, the Patriotic Front, in May this year sued Lt Gen Shikapwasha, the information minister and MMD parliamentarian.
The defamation suit stems from remarks attributed to Lt Gen Shikapwasha alleging that Sata supports homosexuality and warned that once people voted Sata into office he would change laws that would see marriages breaking up.
Sata claims the remarks were aired on ZNBC’s main evening news of April 21, 2011.
Sata is also seeking an interlocutory injunction restraining Lt Gen Shikapwasha from repeating the said slanderous words and that the court should award him costs.
Sata said Lt Gen Shikapwahsa’s statement was false and malicious as the words were understood to mean that he was a homosexual and guilty of the criminal offences on indecent practices.
Sata said the words were further understood to mean that should he win the presidency of the country, he would compel all persons to become homosexuals or lesbians.
He further said the said words were calculated to disparage and diminish his political ambitions of ascending to the Republican presidency.
However, according to a copy of the High Court judgment in default of appearance to defence entered against Lt Gen Shikapwasha last Thursday, the court ordered that Sata recovers general damages for defamation of character from him.
The court made the order in view of Lt Gen Shikapwasha's failure to appear in court in compliance to the Writ of Summons.
“The Defendant not having appeared to the Writ of Summons here, it is this day ajudged that: (i) The Plaintiff recovers against the Defendant general damages for defamation of character to be assessed by the learned Deputy Registrar. (ii) Cost to the Plaintiff, to be taxed in default of agreement,” the default judgment read in part.
The court, according to Sata's lawyers, has set August 2, 2011 as the date of hearing of the application for interlocutory injunction in the same case.
Labels: COURTS, LIBEL, MICHAEL SATA, RONNIE SHIKAPWASHA
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Company director charged over Mugabe rant
by Lunga Sibanda
13/11/2010 00:00:00
A BULAWAYO businessman who faces charges of insulting President Robert Mugabe and undermining his authority has appeared in court seeking a variation of his bail conditions.
Gareth David Fury, a director of Fisher Motors, first appeared in court on 14 September and was remanded out of custody on $100 bail. Then state says the alleged insult occurred on September 6 when Fury called a Fisher employee, Nkululeko Griffin Tshuma, to his office.
Fury requested that Tshuma hand over the company vehicle and keys as his services were no longer required.
The two then exchanged harsh words with Tshuma telling Fury that the company had undermined the country’s empowerment laws by hiring him.
The court heard that a furious Fury then insulted Tshuma and President Mugabe.
He allegedly told Tshuma: “To hell with your indigenisation, not in my company. If you need the car you should go and get one from President Mugabe and his indigenisation. He will make indigenization work in his house and not in this country.
“Go tell him to give you his car and bring back my company car. To hell with him and his indigenisation, we are fed up with him.”
Tshuma refused to surrender the keys and left Fury’s office. A report was made to the police leading to Fury’s arrest.
The state argues that Fury was that his statements were false and could engender feelings of “hatred, hostility or ridicule (towards) the President”.
Meanwhile Fury’s lawyers approached a magistrate’s court on Friday seeking the release of his passport in exchange for title deeds to his property.
The lawyers said Fury needed the passport in order to travel to South Africa.
“In view of his (Fury) medical report, I am submitting that the State releases his passport as he is willing to give title deeds for his property if the State is willing to take that as an alternative,” his lawyers told the court.
The magistrate suspended the case to next Friday to give the Attorney General’s office time to respond.
Labels: GARETH DAVID FURY, INDIGENIZATION AND EMPOWERMENT ACT (ZIMBABWE), LIBEL, ROBERT MUGABE
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Bennett: a victim of own recklessness
By: Editor's Comment
Posted: Saturday, October 23, 2010 4:55 am
MDC-T treasurer general Roy Bennett should respect the rule of law and not flee from it if he is to be respected as a serious politician and leader.
There are many people who are charged with offences, get convicted or are acquitted. This is not new. Farai Maguwu, executive director of the Centre for Research and Development Trust, has just been set free after months of trial. He is no different from Bennett at law.
Perjury, also referred to as false statement or false testimony, is a serious offence in Zimbabwe. It is commited when a person intentionally lies under oath, when testifying in court, during administrative hearings, giving a deposition or in answers to interrogatories.
The State will potentially charge Bennett under the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act for making a false statement under oath, during his terrorism trial.
It attracts a maximum of 20 years in prison with hard labour.
The State alleges that when Bennett was asked to give a correspondence address during his terrorism trial, he gave the address of an industrial working area.
The address, Number 4 Burnley Road in Workington, leads to an industrial area in Harare.
The Deputy Sheriff — in his retainer of service — could not locate the Harare address. It led to the industrial area.
The court found out about the false address when it failed to serve Bennett papers in a civil lawsuit brought by High Court Judge Chinembiri Bhunu over a defamatory statement Bennett made to a British newspaper.
Article continues below
In the United Kingdom, millionaire novelist and former deputy chair of the Conservative Party, Lord Archer was jailed for four years after being found guilty of perjury and perverting the course of justice.
Lord Archer, was ordered to pay £175,000 costs within 12 months, and told by the judge he would have to serve at least half of his sentence.
In the United States, for example, the general perjury statute under Federal law defines perjury as a felony and provides for a prison sentence of up to five years.
In an interview with the Guardian (UK) newspaper's Chris Smith on Sunday, May 9 2010, Bennett said the terrorism case against him was politically motivated.
"It's very unsettling," Bennett told journalist Smith from his home in Harare. "To sit there and to listen to absolute fabricated lies where basically you've got the death sentence hanging over your head is not pleasant at all."
He continued: "To know that the people that are doing it will stop at absolutely nothing to achieve their ends and that there is a selective application of the rule of law, that the judiciary is totally compromised, that the very judge that's trying me is the owner of a farm that he's been given through political patronage, that all the appointees have been done through the ministry of justice on a political basis … basically I should expect no mercy and fear the worst."
Bennett made the remarks only a few hours before his case was discharged by the same judge whom he accussed of being compromised.
Bennett could have perjured himself by potentially not telling the truth when he gave his warned and cautioned statement in his terrorism docket.
The defamation lawsuit filed by Judge Bhunu, however, is a civil one. A civil wrong seeks to compensate Judge Bhunu by awarding damages.
If the court finds in favour of Judge Bhunu, Bennett will be expected to pay damages deemed as fair by the court.
Bennett should remember that when he says he is fighting for the rule of law in Zimbabwe, he should submit himself to that rule of law. By running away from Zimbabwe, he is setting a very dangerous precedent and cannot be a champion for the rule of law.
The State has a right to appeal against Bennett's discharge relating to the criminal case.
Bennett should tell the courts, not the newspapers, why the address he gave as his residential address leads to an industrial unit in Harare, as alleged by the State.
The civil suit, however, is justified because Bennett made those remarks and they are on the Guardian newspaper's website.
Bennett can go to the West to canvass support for the MDC-T, but that does not absolve him of the lawsuits that are before the courts.
Recently, he told another online news agency that "the police were instructed to arrest him and he thinks that this was designed by Zanu PF to scuttle his appointment as deputy Agriculture minister". He is adding to the litany of reckless statements that could bring more lawsuits against him.
His lawyers should advise him to be cautious in his interviews.
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Labels: COURTS, DEFAMATION, LIBEL, MDC, ROY BENNETT
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