Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa’s last-minute court bid to prevent publication of a story alleging several extramarital affairs failed on Saturday night, notes a Mail & Guardian report. It says the case arose after detailed questions – sent from The Sunday Independent editor Steven Motale to Ramaphosa on Friday – were leaked and widely circulated on social media.

Over the weekend, Ramaphosa released two press releases saying this was a smear campaign, a distortion and that the e-mails were illegally obtained. He said that he and his wife were supporting 54 young students and that evidence of bank transfers to them ‘have been used to make scandalous allegations’.

In court, Ramaphosa’s legal adviser Nokukhanya Jele said in an affidavit: ‘The respondents have no right, even in the name of freedom of expression, to invade private email accounts and seek to publish material therefrom. There is no public interest for such publication.’ But in his answering affidavit, Motale said that one of the young women referred to in The Sunday Independent’s intended story had ‘confirmed the authenticity of the emails and their contents’.

Judge Bashier Vally said prior restraint – interdicting something before it was published – was ‘far-reaching relief’.

Ramaphosa had not brought enough evidence to court to justify it and had not satisfied the requirements of an urgent case.

Full Mail & Guardian report

The outcome of the court application was a victory for media freedom, according to Motale, notes a News24 report. Motale said Ramaphosa had contributed immensely to the Constitution and that he should know better than to claim privacy when he holds public office and he is running for the top position in government. ‘He portrays himself as a paragon of moral value, he should know better,’ said Motale. Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Tyrone Seale said they would not be commenting on the court judgment. When asked after publication whether Ramaphosa plans litigation against the newspaper, Seale said ‘litigation surrounding the matter is a private issue for Ramaphosa’, Beeld reports. The SACP and Cosatu both raised concerns about the apparent involvement of state institutions in the revelations.

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Ramaphosa says the allegations of him being a serial womaniser were meant to stop him from contesting the party leadership. A Cape Times report notes he said at an ANC event on the West Rand yesterday that state resources were being used to launch a dirty tricks campaign against him. A Business Day report says WMCleaks, an anonymously run website that targets those who criticise the Gupta family and their associates, started tweeting on Saturday about the questions and e-mails and posted pictures of Ramaphosa and some of the women he is said to be having affairs with.

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