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The legal tussle between businessman Fana Hlongwane and Tiso Blackstar reached a head on Wednesday, when the high court in Pretoria rescinded and set aside a default judgment that Hlongwane obtained against the media company in March last year.
Hlongwane sued Tiso Blackstar for R30 million, after online publications SowetanLive and TimesLive had published a series of alleged defamatory articles about him between 2016 and 2017 for his role in the controversial arms deal.
The default judgment – in which the high court had ordered the company to pay Hlongwane R300 000 with interest and costs of the lawsuit – was obtained in March last year against Tiso Blackstar as a result of the media company not responding to the legal proceedings that were instituted against the company by Hlongwane in September 2017.
The company said that it had not received the summons and was not aware of the proceedings until April last year.
As a result, Tiso Blackstar went to court last month in a bid to have the March 2018 judgment set aside.
Part of the argument by Tiso Blackstar was that the allegations that were put forward by Hlongwane – that the articles which were published by the company were defamatory against him – were in fact true, and that the matter would be better handled in a trial court.
The judgment, handed down by Judge Ronel Tolmay on Wednesday, which City Press has seen, says:
“Both Tiso Blackstar and Mr Hlongwane accept that there is a need to strike a balance between the right to freedom of expression and an individual’s reputation. However, that balance cannot be obtained if evidence is not led and the disputes ventilated in open court, where witnesses can testify and be cross-examined. A default judgment, by its very nature excludes the opportunities for the issues between the parties to be fully canvassed. Having regard to all the circumstances, I am of the view that the judgment should be rescinded.”
Tolmay however, ordered the media company to pay the costs of the rescission application brought forward by Hlongwane, and the costs of a senior counsel, due to the circumstances that led to the default judgment.
She also ordered Tiso Blackstar to take whatever steps it considered necessary within 20 days, including the filing of a plea or exception to Hlongwane’s claim.
