Limpopo Premier Stan Mathabatha is a public figure and he should behave. According to City Press these were the words of Judge Nelisa Mali before dismissing an urgent application by Mathabatha to gag the newspaper on Saturday night. Mali agreed that the matter was urgent, but dismissed the application with costs.

The Premier had asked the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) to prevent City Press from publishing details of a recorded phone conversation between him and Vhembe District Municipality Mayor Florence Radzilani. Mathabatha’s advocate, Lindelani Sigogo, told the court that Radzilani ‘enticed’ Mathabatha and he fell for it.

He said the Premier was entitled to the same level of privacy and dignity that normal South Africans enjoy. Sigogo said the recorded phone conversation was obtained unlawfully.

‘We are saying this illegality must be stopped,’ he said.

Mali disagreed, saying: ‘I find that the information was obtained lawfully.’

The judge said she considered the fact that freedom of expression outweighs the privacy rights of the Premier. In an affidavit, Mathabatha indicated that the publication of the ‘illicit’ recording would injure his dignity, his standing as a family man and in society, and as a leader in the province.

City Press notes that in an affidavit, Radzilani accused Mathabatha of ‘grabbing’ her and telling her that she has all the ‘ingredients he wants from a woman’.

An audio clip of Mathabatha was played to the congregants of the Spirit Ambassadors’ International Ministries in Tshirenzheni village near Thohoyandou, Limpopo, last Sunday. In the recording, Mathabatha is heard professing his undying love for Radzilani, says the report.

Full City Press report