GBM’s lawyers to proceed to court now that M’membe has admitted defaming. Post newspaper owner Fred M’embe has admitted defaming Kasama MP and local business guru Geoffrey Mwamba (GBM). GBM’s lawyers will proceed to court to demand compensation for the libel now that the people who defamed him have admitted publishing defamatory matter against him.M’membe in his political tool he calls the Post lied that GBM travelled to the Copperbelt to decamping the PF and predicted that the PF will lose general elections in 2016. But GBM told M’membe that he had been in Lusaka or along and threatened to take legal action. GBM’s lawyer Makebi Zulu cleverly wrote to M’membe telling him to retract the lies within a specified timeframe. M’membe, who claims to be a lawyer but clearly still has to grasp the concepts, issued an apology but ended up admitting that he defamed GBM. In his apology, M’membe said that he was now convinced that the source of the story, a Mr Menyani Zulu, did not have direct contact with Mr Mwamba. He said Mr Zulu was merely acting on hearsay. There is another problem here: in journalism, you don’t disclose your sources of news just because you have run into trouble. It is unethical. ‘And in this case, I have not heard anything convincing from anyone to make me believe that Mr Mwamba was in Luashya or indeed the Copperbelt at the said time and said the things he is reported to have said,’ reads part of the letter of apology. But in the law of defamation, strictly speaking, issuing an apology is not a defence. In fact, publication of an apology is an admission that a mistake has been made and that it was defamatory. This does not take away the right of the person you defamed to proceed to sue you. Depending on the judge hearing the case, the fact that you apologised can make the judge reduce the money you should compensate the person you defamed and admitted yourself. In this case for example, GBM was defamed. GBM hired lawyer Makebi Zulu and he did do his job as a lawyer. M’membe apologised following Makebi’s work. The question is, who should pay Makebi for his work, GBM of the person who defamed him? Lawyers don’t work for free. They charge even for consultation. .
Posted on: Sun, 02 Feb 2014 03:07:25 +0000