FROM: The Registrar, Supreme Court of Appeal

DATE: 14 November 2005

Please note that the media summary is for the benefit of the media and does not form part of the judgment of the Supreme Court of Appeal

 CHARLES MOGALE AND OTHERS v EPHRAIM SEIMA

The Supreme Court of Appeal (the SCA) today upheld an appeal in the case of C Mogale and Others v Ephraim Seima. The sole issue on appeal concerned the amount of damages awarded for defamation. The plaintiff featured in a gossip column in the Sowetan Sunday World. It was alleged that he had given his girlfriend, a well-known TV presenter, a ‘hot klap’ after catching her ‘eyeing’ at a wedding the best man, another TV presenter. The court below awarded R70 000. Finding the award excessive, the SCA reduced it to R12 000. It pointed out that awards such as these should not unduly stifle the freedom of speech and that the object of an award is not to teach newspapers lessons or to be punitive.