Lebashe to sue as Bantu Holomisa is gagged



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CAPE TOWN – Former deputy finance minister Jabu Moleketi's Lebashe Investment Group is planning to sue Bantu Holomisa following a major victory yesterday, which saw the high court in Pretoria gagging the United Democratic Movement (UDM) leader from bad-mouthing the BEE company .

Moleketi told Business Report that the group wanted to sue for defamation, as the allegations Holomisa made in his office President Cyril Ramaphosa last month had harmed Lebashe's commercial interests.

Moleketi said the allegations came at a time when both Lebashe and Harith General Partners were on the verge of concluding certain transactions where pace had been slowed down.

He said the allegations were probably motivated by commercial interests, which would be quantified in Lebashe's short application.

"Defamation cases can take up to two years, but first we need to stop Holomisa from pushing this defamatory agenda. "

Yesterday, the court ordered the UDM and Holomisa to immediately stop making or repeating any allegations, whether orally or in writing, against Lebashe or its directors in any form.

articles, letters, media interviews, tweets, and other social media posts

He should: "Within three hours of the granting of this order, remove and delete the letter and, in so far as it relates to their power, any posts regarding the letter or any of its contents or responses thereto, from the first respondent's website (www.udm.org.za), from the first respondent's Twitter account (@UDmRevolution), and from the second respondent's Twitter account (@BantuHolomisa), "read the court judgment in part."

The court ordered by Holomisa and the UDM

In his letter to Ramaphosa, Holomisa called for investigations into the operations of the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), citing allegations of corruption, misunderstanding, misunderstanding, money laundering and purging of staff within the corporation.

The PIC was welcomed by the court ruling.

PIC head of corporate affairs Deon Botha said the repeated allegations of systemic corruption were unfortunate and lacked substance.

"Although the PIC is not a party to these legal proceedings, the PIC welcomes the high court judgment.

"This institution and its chief executive (Dr Dan Matjila) have been the subjects of a prolonged, unjustified and malicious public of the UDM and its leader for what can only be described as inexplicable yet sinister motives to intentionally cause public confusion and the PIC's reputation.

Last vanguard

"Our judicial system and the courts remain the last vanguard, where facts can be determined objectively and the PIC looks forward to becoming available, "He said."

Holomisa said yesterday that his lawyers were working on appealing the ruling.

He said he wrote to Ramaphosa to "get the truth out" and that they were free to voice their own opinions.

"What I Was in the Open Letter Is What Is Already in the Public Domain," Holomisa said. "The only thing is that I took all the media reports and compiled them into one document." [19659002] Lebashe also welcomed the court ruling.

Executive director Warren Wheatley said that while the group embraced citizens' rights to freedom of expression, these had been exercised responsibly, as their abuse of the spirit of the country's constitution [19659002] "Wheatley said.

-BUSINESS REPORT

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