Court throws out doctor’s case against EFF official in Covid-19 tiff

The Eastern Cape High Court has thrown out a local doctor’s urgent case against an EFF staffer, who took to social media and accused him of having infected others with Covid-19.

Dr Sizwe Mxenge, who practises in King William’s Town, tested positive for Covid-19 in April and has been public about his experience with the virus.

After he tested positive, Sixolise Gcilishe – the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) national communications manager – wrote two posts on Facebook, accusing Mxenge of “arrogance and contemptuousness” and of having infected others with the virus.

In response to a letter of demand from Mxenge’s lawyers describing the posts as “defamatory, hurtful, cruel, devoid of any truth” and “made to injure our client and his good name as a medical practitioner”, Gcilishe took the posts down last month.

She also issued a statement on her Facebook, which read: “Sizwe Mxenge, Sorry.”

This prompted a second letter of demand for a more substantial apology to be published both on Facebook and in the local newspaper and for compensation of R250,000.

When the second letter of demand bore no fruit, Mxenge approached the court with a damages claim.

In the interim, he wanted an order declaring the statements defamatory and false and interdicting Gcilishe from making any further such statements about him.

In court, Gcilishe did not deny she had authored the posts but argued she had already apologised and deleted them.

She said she had also made a “without prejudice” offer to post an extensive apology on Facebook if Mxenge withdrew his court action but this had been rejected.

The court this week struck the case off the roll.

“This court is not in a position to decide whether the defamation is true or false, even less to make a declaration in that regard.

“It is a disputed fact that the respondent had the malicious intent to defame the applicant.”

The court also found that the case was not urgent because the post had since been deleted and an apology had been made. “There is less likelihood that the statement can be repeated again after the deletion and apology,” it said.

Mxenge said on Friday he still intended to pursue the damages claim and to take legal action over a social media post which incorrectly indicated he had died from Covid-19.

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