Johnathan Paoli
Former Public Protector and EFF MP Busisiwe Mkhwebane, has instructed Goodrich Gardee Attorneys to act against the Daily Maverick following the publication of an article that called her a “kant.”
The law firm wrote a letter of demand to the publication on Tuesday, calling for the complete retraction of the article, an apology as agreed upon in conjunction with Mkhwebane’s legal team; and a payment of R5 million to an organisation which dealt with gender-based violence.
The letter said referring to the EFF MP as a “Kant” was a disingenuous innuendo referring to her in a sexist term that has frequently been used to derogate, humiliate, insult and impair the dignity and integrity of a person.
“Your conduct is unprecedentedly insensitive in the midst of appalling gender-based violence besieging the country, and for that matter, your journalist to refer to her as a private part of a woman, a woman that she, the journalist, is,” the letter read.
Mkhwebane’s legal team said that the article was in breach of her human right to privacy and bodily integrity, as well as breaching specific Press Codes, which include independence, conflict of interest, discrimination and hate speech, and misleading headlines on the content of the report.
The legal team said the categorising of the article about their client as ‘unrestricted’ was meant to solicit maximum readership to inflict maximum emotional pain and slander the advocate.
In light of Mkhwebane’s position as a married family woman and public representative in the third largest party, the ridicule and malicious slander would result in significant harm to both her own reputation and standing as well as affecting those around her.
This follows an article written by Marianne Thamm and published by Daily Maverick in which she refers to Mkhwebane as “Kant of the Year” and embarks on an outline of what Thamm believes was a litany of crimes allegedly committed by Mkhwebane.
These included a rent-free stay in the Bryntirion ministerial estate in Pretoria and the leaking of WhatsApp messages and voice clips from former Cabinet minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson about alleged bribes being sought by ANC members.
“This category was specially created for individuals whose behaviour falls short of Villain of the Year but who have, in some way, acted detrimentally, way out of any rational bounds,” Thamm wrote.
The Daily Maverick slur on Mkhwebane come on the heels of a previous misogynist attack on the current Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka by DA MP Glynnis Breytenbach who insinuated that Gcaleka had “slept her way to the top” with former NPA boss Menzi Simelane, in what some have called a wave of sexist attacks against Black women in positions of power.
Daily Maverick as well as Thamm has yet to respond to the letter of demand at the time of publishing.
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