Manyi wants judge’s recusal
ACCUSER’S COUNSEL IS FROM SAME CHAMBERS AS JUDGE
Media owner Mzwanele “Jimmy” Manyi’s legal team yesterday reportedly asked a judge presiding over a defamation case, brought against him by billionaire entrepreneur Magdalena Wierzycka, to recuse herself from presiding over the matter.
Wierzycka, the chief executive of Sygnia Asset Management and South Africa’s wealthiest woman, last week filed an urgent application in the High Court in Johannesburg seeking an order declaring statements Manyi made against her on Twitter and Facebook, including that she was guilty of economic “terrorism”, defamatory.
According to a TimesLIVE report, Manyi was informed by his counsel, Vuyani Ngalwana SC, before court proceedings that Acting Judge Fiona Dippenaar comes from the same group of chambers as Wierzycka’s counsel, David Unterhalter SC.
However, Unterhalter argued that the request for Dippenaar to recuse herself was without any basis as the constitution permitted the appointment of acting judges.
“The constitution envisaged there would be acting judges. There must be substantial reasons for a judge to recuse him or herself. There is no case that has been made‚” Unterhalter told the court.
Judge Dippenaar ordered Manyi’s legal team to prepare a written application providing reasons why she should recuse herself from the case.
“The applicant [Manyi] should file his application by 4pm [Thursday] and the respondent should file answering papers by 6pm‚” she ruled.
Wierzycka wants the court to interdict Manyi from publishing more defamatory statements about her.
She also wants it to order Manyi to issue an unconditional apology and retraction on social media, and to remove the statements on all the platforms on which they were originally posted.
Manyi, however, contends that his social media statements about Wierzycka do not amount to defamation, harassment and hate speech. The application for the judge to recuse herself will be heard today. –