Justice Minister Ronald Lamola has filed a R1 million defamation suit against Mpumalanga media outlet 013News for a story suggesting that he meddled in the corruption prosecution of ANC MP Bongani Bongo.
The online newspaper carried the article on October 24.
It suggested that Lamola gave directions to senior state prosecutor Henry Nxumalo to delay the R74 million fraud, corruption and money-laundering trial against Bongo, a former minister of state security, to prevent him from seeking re-election to the ANC’s national executive committee at the party’s conference in December.
In papers filed on a semi-urgent basis, Lamola is demanding that 013News retract the article and that all other media or social media references to it be deleted.
He further seeks a court order compelling the publication to publish an unconditional apology within 24 hours for publishing information that was “entirely false” and for the harm caused to his dignity and reputation.
“013News had no valid basis whatsoever for asserting that Minister Lamola is involved in the prosecution of Bongani Bongo’s matter,” Lamola said in an affidavit accompanying the application to the Mbombela high court.
The first three respondents in the matter are the newspaper, the editor Mpumi Masina and the author of the article, Zama Khumalo.
In the second part of the application, which Lamola will institute 20 days after the first is decided, he is demanding R1 million in damages from the publication and the author.
“The purpose in bringing this application is to vindicate my right to dignity and hard-earned reputation,” said the minister.
Lamola is seeking election as the deputy president of the ruling party in December.
His affidavit notes that he is a qualified lawyer and hence it is “of utmost importance that I retain my status as a fit and proper person in order to continue to practise”.
The application was brought in his personal capacity, but was also in the public interest, because it served to protect the integrity of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and to make plain that those implicated in corruption are prosecuted without fear or favour, he said.
“I take exception to any suggestion or attempt to taint the integrity of the NPA’s work by making reckless and unsubstantiated allegations against me or any member of the NPA,” he said.
He stressed that as justice minister, it was his intent to ensure that there was no interference in the work of the prosecuting authority, while as a member of the ANC he was committed to democracy and accountability, whereas meddling in the work of the NPA would be a crime.
“This is a commitment I intend to honour fully without any reservation, and it is thus important to me that the public remain confident in my commitment to do so,” he said.
The minister has been at pains in recent weeks to reiterate that he has no hand in determining who is prosecuted for corruption or state capture crimes. Days after the article was published, he took issue with suggestions that either he or the president was telling the NPA “to arrest this one and not to arrest this one”.
The affidavit noted that Khumalo contacted ministerial spokesman Chrispin Phiri for comment on suggestions that the minister had a hand in court delays, and was told that this was “a fabrication of epic proportions”.
In 2019, Bongo became one of the early, high-profile arrests regarding state capture, when he was charged with attempting to bribe a parliamentary employee, Ntuthuzelo Vanara, in 2017 by offering him “an unlawful gratification” to derail a parliamentary inquiry into grand corruption at Eskom.
The charges were dismissed by the Western Cape judge president, John Hlophe last year, days after Bongo filed a section 174 application, on the basis that there was no evidence on which a court would reasonably return a finding of guilt.
The NPA is appealing that decision.
He was arrested again in 2020, along with several co-accused, on charges of fraud, corruption, money-laundering and contravening public finance legislation. The charges relate to suspect land deals in Mpumalanga, which allegedly saw a farm outside Ermelo bought for R10.5 million and within the hour sold to the government for R36 million. It is alleged that Bongo used some of the money to build himself a house.
At the time of the sale, he was the head of legal services in Mpumalanga’s human settlements department. Bongo has been compelled to step aside as member of the legislature.
He is considered to be a member of the ruling party’s so-called radical economic transformation faction opposing president Cyril Ramaphosa.
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