Staff Reporter
The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has dismissed an appeal by former president Jacob Zuma in which was challenging a ruling that said he defamed ANC veteran Derek Hanekom when he called him a “known enemy agent”.
The SCA did not even hear the matter saying there was no reasonable prospect of success in the court challenge.
The Bloemfontein court also pointed out, in the Thursday ruling, that there are no other compelling reasons why the appeal should be heard.
The matter follows a 2019 tweet by Zuma in which he called Hanekom a “well-known agent of the enemy” after it emerged that the senior ANC member had met with members of the Economic Freedom Fighters party to discuss a motion of no confidence in the former president.
Hanekom challenged Zuma to withdraw the statement before taking the matter to the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in a defamation case.
Hanekom, a former minister of tourism, won the case.
Zuma was ordered to apologise for the tweet.
He was also instructed not publish any statements in future either saying or implying that Hanekom was an enemy agent or apartheid spy.
It was not immediately clear if Zuma would consider challenging the latest ruling in the Constitutional Court.