Popular Port Elizabeth medical practitioner and talk show host, Mthembeni Tebelele, has turned to the courts in a bid to stop sexual assault allegations made by a string of women on social media, according to a report in The Herald.

Accusing three of his former patients in papers filed with the Eastern Cape High Court (Port Elizabeth) of having embarked on an assassination of his good character, he is demanding an unconditional retraction and apology.

The women will defend the matter, according to their lawyer, Tracey Lomax-Nixon, of Access to Justice.

The father of three said he was being ‘unlawfully prosecuted on social media without any justifiable cause’.

The report notes that Lonah Simakuhle, Yolanda Vinjiwe and Loyiso Saliso took to Twitter this month to accuse the family doctor of sexual assault.

Tebelele wants a judge to declare the tweets and Facebook posts defamatory, false and unlawful, and wants Simakuhle, Vinjiwe and Saliso to be restrained from publishing or making similar allegations against him in the future.

Full report in The Herald (subscription needed)