KZN Transport MEC Siboniso Duma was taken to court by ALS Paramedics over what it perceives as defamatory remarks made by the MEC against it. A legal showdown between KwaZulu-Natal Transport and Human Settlements MEC Siboniso Duma and ALS Paramedics is expected to take place in May, after the paramedic company last week turned to court in a bid to gag Duma from making what it believed to be defamatory comments about them. The Pietermaritzburg High Court on Friday failed to make a final finding in ALS Paramedics’ urgent application to have Duma restrained from making any written or verbal “defamatory statements” regarding them.
Judge Pieter Bezuidenhout said on the papers before him, he could not issue the gagging order the paramedics’ company sought. He granted both parties the opportunity to supplement their court papers if they so wished. He ordered that Duma must on May 4 show cause why he should not be interdicted, in his capacity as MEC, from making comments which ALS Paramedics deemed to be defamatory.
The controversy was sparked by recent comments Duma made about ALS Paramedics at the scene of a fatal R102 accident, in which at least 11 people lost their lives. Speaking at the crash scene, Duma alleged that private ALS ambulances were “bulldozing” accident scenes, behaving insensitively, and refusing to assist patients without medical aid, even in life-threatening circumstances. He stated that this was why the provincial government preferred relying on ambulances dispatched by the Department of Health.
[paywall]
Aggrieved by this, ALS Paramedics (applicant) subsequently formally demanded a public retraction and apology through its lawyers, but no apology had been received, and the ambulance service opted to turn to court. It was submitted on behalf of the applicant in court papers that Duma made these statements on two occasions on the same day,January 29,and that it may continue if he is not issued with an interdict. The applicant said it was vulnerable to such comments and that it was necessary to prevent it from continuing.
It was submitted that words such as “bulldoze”, “misreport”, “not provide service to members of the public that do not have medical aid” were indeed defamatory andimplythat the applicant operates in a manner that is not befitting of human dignity. The ambulance service added that it would suffer irreparable harm if an interdict were not granted. It was submitted on behalf of Duma that in actual fact the relief which was sought was final relief and that this was not appropriate under the circumstances.
It was argued on his behalf that he did not mislead the public and that what he had said was in the public interest and correct. Judge Bezuidenhout noted that there is no indication in the court papers that afterJanuary 29Duma once again made these remarks or any indication that he is intent on doing so. He, however, called in Duma to show cause, if any, why he should not be interdicted and restrained from making written or verbal “defamatory” statements concerning the applicant. These include by stating or implying the SAPS and Metro Police were complaining about the ambulance service, that the company “misreports” the numbers of injured and deceased persons affected by vehicle collisions, and that it “fails to provide services to members of the public without medical aid”.
[/paywall]
All Zim News – Bringing you the latest news and updates.
