Constitutional court’s judgments in Slapp suit case increase protection for free speech

A pair of landmark judgments handed down by the constitutional court on Monday for the first time recognise strategic litigation against public participation (so-called Slapp suits) as an abuse of process, according to the non-profit Centre for Environmental Rights (CER).

They carve out a limitation to trading corporations’ ability to claim damages for reputational harm, the law clinic said. “The judgments have important consequences for the protection of activism and the rights and responsibilities of corporations in South Africa and beyond.”

Mineral Commodities Ltd (MRC), its local subsidiary Mineral Sands Resources, former MRC executive chairperson Mark Caruso and its empowerment partner Zamile Qunya are suing environmental attorneys Christine Reddell, Tracey Davies — both formerly with the CER — and Cormac Cullinan, social worker John GI Clarke, and activists Mzamo Dlamini and Davine Cloete for R14.5-million for their public criticism of the MRC’s proposed titanium mining project at Xolobeni on the Wild Coast and its Tormin operations on the West Coast.