[AUDIO] We had a fascinating legal discussion about the ANCs prospects of winning the DA sms case on appeal. Thanks to Pierre De Vos and Ben Winks (Webber Wentzel) for joining us. Recall the DA sms said The Nkandla report shows how Zuma stole your money to build his R246 home. Vote DA on 7 May to beat corruption. Together for change. Judge Hellens found in favour of the DA, essentially arguing that the sms constitutes fair comment. I wrote a column defending the judgment. Dario Milo and Ben Winks wrote a blog that is fascinating, arguing that the judgment was not as good as some of us thought. That while the definition of fair comment relied on by Judge Hellens is acceptable (and based on the McBride case where the notion of fair comment was extensively explained and analysed by Justice Cameron), that, nevertheless, it is not obvious that the sms constitutes COMMENT in the first instance. It could be argued that it is intended to, and can reasonably be read as, a statement of fact. In which case it is irrelevant whether it is FAIR comment as such. Pierre, as always, was excellent on some of the wider implications, and also weighing in on why it is not as easy to make a classification of the sms as fact. Suffice to say...it is a fascinating legal issue with CRUCIAL political implications. Have a listen to the debate. It was thorough, and my guests were admirably lucid despite the technicalities of law. Power 98.7 Now were talking https://soundcloud/powerfm987/can-the-anc-win-the-da-sms
Posted on: Mon, 14 Apr 2014 09:50:01 +0000
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