08 Nov 2022

 When Kagiso Senior Secondary School headmaster, Ms Chandapiwa Dladla brushed off a news reporter who was following a story on allegations of satanism at the school, she did not anticipate that her actions would one day be detrimental to her lawsuit case against the same reporter.

In a twelve-page Court of Appeal judgment released last week Friday, Ms Dladla is said to have brushed off The Voice reporter Ms Onneile Setlalekgosi during a telephone call, saying she had no time to answer allegations levelled against her.

 “In my view, the court a quo was in error in finding that the respondent had not been accorded the opportunity to respond,” said Justice Singh Walia when overturning a High Court judgment which had awarded Ms Dladla a P65 000 lawsuit against Ms Setlalekgosi and Ms Emang Bokhutlo, the latter being sued in her capacity as the editor.

 The court of appeal decision relates to an article in The Voice newspaper of  May 27, 2016, which the High Court had found to be defamatory against Ms Dladla and awarded her damages of P65 000.

The article, according to the court said parents at the school had demanded the school head to resign over allegations of satanism which resulted in angry parents picking their children from the school hostels

“This was following allegations that the headmaster, Chandapiwa Dladla entered their hostels and then transformed into a black dog. The distraught students apparently escaped in panic from the school hostels and fled to their homes, after witnessing this transformation,” the court extracted from the newspaper.

Before publishing the story, the reporter is said to have made attempts to verify the facts by making two visits to Ramotswa where she was unable to reach the school head and eventually gave up efforts as the exercise was becoming expensive.

The court found that the telephone call which was met with a curt response demonstrated the respondent’s reluctance to respond to allegations against her.

 “The phone call and the visits taken by Ms Setlalekgosi speak more than adequately of the effort to get a response and respondent’s truculence,” the court said.

If further said the matter was of public interest, thereby setting aside the decision of the High Court which had concluded that the issue was not in the public interest.

 “It is not denied that there were disturbances at the school with some parents removing their children from the hostel and to the extent that investigation by the officers from the Office of the President became necessary.”

The Court of Appeal also added that the public had the right to know what was going on at the school.

 Also, the apex court found that the question of the truthfulness of the article was entirely misconceived by the lower court and the respondent’s attorney, with the latter saying there was no truth in what was reported.

The respondent attorney had argued it was impossible for a human being to turn into a dog and there was a need for those interviewed by the Ms Setlalekgosi to testify.

 “The true meaning of truth relates not to the truth of what was said to the first appellant, but that there was truthful reporting of what was said to her by her sources,” the judgment said.

The Court of Appeal found that the article was aimed at highlighting the goings at the school and did not report beyond what the author had been told.

The court, therefore, allowed the appeal by Ms Setlalekgosi and Ms Bokhutlo with cost and further set aside the high court decision.

 The case was before a panel of three; judge president of the court of appeal, Justice Tebogo Tau and Justices Isaac Lesetedi and Walia. ENDS