Daily Maverick welcomes court victory in legal battle with businessman Collen Mashawana

JOHANNESBURG - Media house Daily Maverick has welcomed its court victory in the legal battle with popular businessman Collen Mashawana.

On Wednesday, the Johannesburg High Court heard both the publication’s arguments, as well as Mashawana’s legal team during an interdict application brought by Mashawana.

Mashawana had served Daily Maverick with a gag order in an attempt to have the damming article, linking him to apparent corruption scandals, removed.

The publication had linked Mashawana to disgraced CEO of the Independent Development Trust (IDT), Tebogo Malaka, who was recently filmed allegedly trying to bribe journalist Pieter-Louis Myburgh.

Earlier in August, Daily Maverick published an article that revealed some of its investigations into the alleged corrupt dealings of Malaka, linking her to Mashawana through payments made to her luxury Waterfall Country Estate property.

In Wednesday’s proceedings in the Johannesburg High Court, Mashawana’s legal representatives had disputed all claims, even going as far as saying that the publication had liedin its reporting.

Meanwhile, Daily Maverick’s legal team, Adrian Friedman, argued that the most effective way Mashawana could have been vindicated was by lodging a complaint with the Press Council.

"In paragraph 7.3.2 of the Press Council's Complaints Procedure, one of the powers that is given is to direct at a correction, retraction, or explanation, and where appropriate, an apology and/or findings of the armament be published on a particular website, any website under their control, including social media, regardless whether the content of the complaint was originally published on those platforms."

In addition to wanting the articles about him removed, Mashawana was also trying to bar the Daily Maverick from speaking about him at an event scheduled to take place on Thursday.

The court also ruled that the event may proceed despite Mashawana’s attempt to stop it.