The Mpumalanga Division of the High Court has dismissed an urgent application by disgraced attorney Zietta Janse Van Rensburg to prevent the broadcast of a Carte Blanche episode detailing her alleged fraudulent activities.

Also read: Malalane attorney in court on fraud charges: Zietta Janse van Rensburg’s legal woes continue

The application, brought before the court on a Saturday to be heard this afternoon (Sunday), was labelled a serious abuse of court process by both the legal teams of Carte Blanche and Lowvelder.

Advocate Hendrik van Rensburg, representing Zietta, argued that the information set to be aired was false and that Zietta had not been given an opportunity to respond and was not notified of the programme’s content. He claimed that the broadcast would cause irreparable damage to her reputation.

Also read: The Onderberg’s Zietta van Rensburg implicated in ‘serious misconduct’

However, Carte Blanche’s defence attorney, Advocate Mfundo Salukazana, countered that Zietta had been given the right of reply on numerous occasions and was aware of the content more than a month before the scheduled broadcast. Despite this, she did not take the opportunity to respond. Salukazana emphasised that the application to stop the broadcast, filed just a day before the airing, was a grave abuse of court proceedings.

Advocate James Stone, instructed by local attorneys Du Toit Smuts on behalf of Caxton, supported the view that the application was not urgent. Stone specifically stressed that the matters brought against Lowvelder were not pressing.

In addition, he argued that her application for the removal of all articles published by Caxton, its comments on social media, and a demand for website and newspaper banner apologies was frivolous.

After considering all arguments, Judge Naomi Engelbrecht concluded that the application lacked urgency and struck the case off the roll with cost.

This decision allows Carte Blanche to proceed with the broadcast as planned. The programme will air tonight at 19:00 on M-Net.