(FXI/IFEX) – Lawyers acting for the premier of Mpumalanga province, Matthews Phosa, on 20 November 1997 served journalist Justin Arenstein with a letter claiming that, as a result of an article published in the “Mail & Guardian” (M&G) newspaper on 31 October, Phosa had suffered damages to the amount of R3-million (about US $600,000). The […]
(FXI/IFEX) – Lawyers acting for the premier of Mpumalanga
province, Matthews Phosa, on 20 November 1997 served journalist
Justin Arenstein with a letter claiming that, as a result of an
article published in the “Mail & Guardian” (M&G) newspaper on 31
October, Phosa had suffered damages to the amount of R3-million
(about US $600,000). The letter said that the article in question
was “not true and not in the public interest and or did not form
part of a fair comment on facts that are true and in the public
interest”. Arenstein told FXI that he expected a summons to be
issued against him later this week.
**Updates IFEX alert dated 7 November 1997**
Background Information
The African National Congress (ANC) in Mpumalanga province said
it intended to take legal action against Arenstein in an attempt
to force him to reveal the sources of the article that appeared
in the M&G. The article quoted unnamed members of the ANC’s
Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) confirming that the body had
unanimously agreed to withdraw the nomination of Phosa for the
position of ANC deputy president. The spokesman for the ANC in
the province, Jackson Mthembu, denied that the PEC “ever passed a
resolution to withdraw our beloved leader’s nomination, although
there may have been motions and discussions to that effect.”
Mthembu told a media conference: “We have no problem with
journalists or with informers…but we want the names of the
hounds that…fooled around with the name of the ANC and its
leadership, especially if these faceless and malicious informers
are in the party’s senior leadership.”
Arenstein has on more than one occasion been the subject of
personal attacks from members of the Mpumalanga legislature,
having exposed several incidents of serious corruption and
maladministration involving top officials in the provincial
government (see IFEX alert).
