Riyaz Patel
South African Reserve Bank (SARB) Governor Lesetja Kganyago is suing outspoken ANC Nelson Mandela Bay councillor Andile Lungisa for R500 000 for defamation after two tweets which characterised Kganyago as a “lackey of racist people.”
An unrepentant Lungisa said that he has received the summons and that he will oppose it.
“The governor of the Reserve Bank is suing me for R500k because I correctly characterised him and his ilk as useful idiots of settler capital,” the councillor said.
Lungisa’s tweets came at the height of divisions within the ANC over the nationalisation of the Reserve Bank in June.
On June 5, Lungisa tweeted: “He, like many of his ilk, imagines that proximity to the culturally fetid but economically Neo-settlers, coupled with a few lattes makes him an exceptional k****r.”
Lungisa used the k-word in full in his tweet.
A day later, he again tweeted: “Lesetja Kganyago, a dutiful servant of our racialist classes supérieures, is an ardent disciple of the neoliberal dystopia that has condemned millions of African people to a desolate existence.”
In his affidavit, dated August 7, Kganyago states that Lungisa had about 20 000 followers at the time of publication and that these statements were widely read by the public.
“The publication of the first and second statements [the tweets] was wrongful and are per se defamatory of the plaintiff,” Kganyago’s affidavit further adds.
“Needless to say, I will not be paying. This is an extortion racket designed to silence those that oppose the marginalisation of our society by an arrogant settler minority,” Lungisa said.
