A Gauteng High Court judge has slammed as ‘abusive’ an urgent bid by two of Deputy President Paul Mashatile’s oldest friends to gag Media24 from referring to them as members of the ‘Alex Mafia’.
The case was struck from the roll, with punitive costs.
News24’s Karyn Maughan reports that in her ruling on Tuesday, Judge Ingrid Opperman said she was ‘driven to conclude’ that the application by Bridgman Sithole and Mike Maile to interdict Media24 from referring to them as members of the so-called ‘Alex Mafia’ – a term that has been in use for 16 years – was ‘an abusive attempt by two politically-connected businessmen to gag a targeted newsroom’.
Judge Opperman said: ‘In my view, [Sithole and Maile] have abused the court process, by claiming urgency where there is none, by materially altering their case in reply, and by seeking relief which will have no purpose other than to improperly punish and make a chilling example of the first to seventh respondents.’
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