Deputy police commissioner’s interdict against whistle-blower overturned

Deputy National Police Commissioner Lt-Gen Shadrack Sibiya’s interim interdict barring former high-ranking police member Patricia Morgan-Mashale from publishing defamatory statements on social media, accusing him of corruption, was overturned.

Sibiya turned to the Bloemfontein High Court for a final interdict after he had obtained the interim interdict against her in November last year.

Morgan-Mashale defended her actions by stating that her posts regarding Sibiya are the truth, in the public interest, and what she had said about him was, in any event, already public knowledge.

The court, in discharging the interim interdict against her, said Sibiya has failed to disprove these defences conclusively. The court said he has an alternative remedy, as he can file a summons against her for damages and then prove defamation.

Morgan-Mashale, who describes herself as a whistle-blower, said she is presently staying in undisclosed premises. She was previously employed as an administrative clerk in the SAPS, but was dismissed.

In an interim order issued in November, the court ordered that the statements by Morgan-Mashale on social media be declared unlawful and defamatory and that these violated Sibiya’s right to dignity. She was ordered to retract and/or remove the statements from the social media platforms, Facebook and Twitter/X, under her username. The interim order was extended on several occasions.

It is Morgan-Mashale’s case that, as a whistle-blower and human rights defender, she is entitled to report matters regarding corruption. According to her, the information posted was already in the public domain. She insisted that the information was the truth and in the public interest; also, that she had no intention to defame Sibiya.

Morgan-Mashale’s social media postings included allegations that Sibiya had tampered with the crime scene where the late soccer star Senzo Meyiwa was murdered. She also posted allegations that Sibiya had received bribery money from diamond dealer Louis Liebenberg. She has about 101,000 followers on Facebook and 68,200 on Twitter/X.

Judge Johannes Daffue remarked that it is common cause that Sibiya attended the Meyiwa crime scene. On his own version, as is apparent from the extracts of a Netflix documentary, he and his team “rushed to the scene” and they cleared the scene, the judge said.

Sibiya, in turn, said none of the Netflix episodes relied upon by her demonstrate that he tampered with the crime scene or that he instructed someone else to tamper with it. He regarded these statements as defamatory.

Regarding the bribery allegations by Liebenberg, Sibiya explained that in October last year, he spoke to Liebenberg, who informed him that his wife had made diary entries on his instructions, which reflected the name of Mr Sibiya of SAPS. However, according to Sibiya, Liebenberg did not refer to him but to a different Mr Sibiya. Consequently, he said that there was no testimony that he had received any money from Liebenberg.

In this regard, Judge Daffue said: “I find it extremely disturbing that the applicant (Sibiya) failed to obtain affidavits from the Liebenbergs to exonerate him. If it is a mere coincidence that monies were paid to another Sibiya of SAPS, I would have expected the applicant, supported by the Liebenbergs under oath, to identify this Sibiya who is also a member of SAPS.”

The judge added that “surely, no monies would be paid to bribe a person that could not be of any assistance to the Liebenbergs”.

He rejected Sibiya’s version on this as “untenable and far-fetched, if not false”.

Judge Daffue accepted that the social media postings portray Sibiya as a corrupt police official involved in bribery and corruption.

But he concluded that although he has a right to protect his dignity and reputation, the court is not satisfied that Sibiya has suffered and will continue to suffer ongoing reputational harm if the interdict is refused, as he had alternative remedies open to him.

zelda.venter@inl.co.za