Gardener v. Whitaker
South Africa Constitutional Court
1996 (4) SALR 337 (CC) (1996)
- Written by Kelly Simon, JD
Facts
Nigel Gardener (plaintiff) worked as the town clerk of East London, a municipality in South Africa. Eric Whitaker (defendant) served as a city council member for East London. During a 1993 meeting of the action committee of the East London city council, Whitaker quoted a portion of a city council report Gardener had contributed to and commented that the content was a lie. Gardener sued Whitaker for defamation. Whitaker argued that the statement did not refer to Gardener and, in the alternative, qualified privilege and that his statement was true and of public benefit. The trial judge determined that although Whitaker’s words did refer to Gardener and were defamatory, the statements were related to a matter of public interest that required an open and frank discussion. Gardener appealed to the South Africa Constitutional Court, arguing that the impact of the South Africa Constitution’s protections for freedom of expression required that the Constitutional Court, rather than the appellate court, have jurisdiction over the appeal.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Kentridge, J.)
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