- News24 specialist legal writer Karyn Maughan has maintained she has the right to report on legal developments in the public interest, including former president Jacob Zuma's case.
- Zuma wants to privately prosecute Maughan and NPA prosecutor advocate Billy Downer.
- In her court papers, Maughan maintains Zuma's medical records were not leaked and that they were not confidential.
News24 specialist legal journalist Karyn Maughan maintains that she has the right to report on legal developments in the public interest, including former president Jacob Zuma's case.
In an answering affidavit filed in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg, Maughan said she rejected Zuma's claims that her reporting against him was biased.
"My reporting on Mr Zuma's trial is informed by my independent and professional assessment of the facts and a concern to report on legal developments in the public interest.
"The public has a right to know how Mr Zuma's criminal prosecution unfolds and, where there are delays in the trial, the reason for those delays. This would be true of any criminal trial, but finds particular application in respect of criminal proceedings that have been the subject of a multitude of legal delays amounting to some 229 months (19 years)."
Maughan further states that Zuma's claims that Brigadier General Mcebisi Mdutywa's letter contained confidential medical information were unfounded.
"Mr Zuma's attorneys never requested that the letter from Gen. Mdutywa, whether filed by Mr Downer or filed by Mr Zuma's attorneys, be placed under seal as a confidential document. It was filed by both as an ordinary court document and remained an ordinary court document, which is a public record, and I was entitled to treat it as such."
She also states that Zuma's medical information is not "automatically classified" or has a higher confidentiality level due to his former presidential status.
"I note that Mr Zuma says he has 'a terminal condition' and that this was 'identified in the leaked document'.
"To the extent that by this, Mr Zuma refers to General Mdutywa's letter, this is denied. That letter contains no particulars about Mr Zuma's medical condition."
On Monday, the case will be heard in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg, where Maughan will try to have it thrown out because Zuma does not have a nolle prosequi certificate from the NPA.
She called the bluff on Zuma's claim that she had deleted a tweet in which she "reported about the ill-gotten medical information".
The former president claimed Maughan had deleted the tweets she wrote on 9 August 2021. Zuma's daughter, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, screengrabbed the tweet and asked Maughan why she had deleted it.
The tweet is still on her page.
Zuma’s lawyers will tmw produce an affidavit from his doctor to justify their application for a short postponement. Should they ask for longer delay in the trial when the case returns to court, they will need to lead doctor’s oral evidence.Doctor can then be cross examined. https://t.co/oBKVJMX0Ay
— Karyn Maughan (@karynmaughan) August 9, 2021
What was deleted, Maughan shows, is a comment by a Twitter user.
The deleted tweet said: "You back from the coma?" This was in reference to Maughan having contracted Covid-19 and being hospitalised.
"For the above reasons, Mr Zuma's statement in paragraph 166 of his affidavit that 'it has since emerged that she disingenuously deleted her tweets of 9 August 2021' is patently false. The manner in which the evidence has been presented... appears to be a deliberate attempt to manufacture evidence against me and to mislead the Court."
Maughan also attached screengrabs showing that Zuma's lawyer, advocate Dali Mpofu, shared court documents with her on WhatsApp. In one message, Mpofu sent her court papers related to Zuma's criminal trial and, in another, litigation involving the Judicial Service Commission, of which Mpofu was the spokesperson at the time.
This was to prove that her asking for legal documents from advocate Andrew Breitenbach was not out of the ordinary for a journalist.
She further states that Zuma's court papers filed earlier this week are "replete with unfounded and malicious ad hominem attacks" against her.
Maughan has filed an urgent application asking the court to set aside the private prosecution against her. Zuma wants her application dismissed, saying the grounds of urgency were "extremely weak".
Zuma launched a private prosecution against Maughan and State advocate Billy Downer.
The charges against Maughan and Downer relate to News24's publication of an update on Zuma's medical condition.
Maughan, in her papers, said Zuma is trying to discredit her and her work.
"Mr Zuma's answer, replete as it is with vitriolic attacks against me and my reporting, confirms that he is intent on discrediting and silencing me as a journalist. It is clear that his institution of a private prosecution against me is instituted for that ulterior and impermissible purpose."
In her papers, she goes on to show how Zuma’s papers are filled with falsehoods against her.
She asked for the documents on 9 August 2021, when they were already public documents. She asserts that she did not ask for them a day before the special plea hearing.
"As I was reporting on the court proceedings the following day, I required the court documents to be properly prepared for the hearing and to be able to inform the public about the hearing. I did not request, nor did I receive, any 'leaked' documents in order to pursue a nefarious agenda in reporting about Mr Zuma's case. I was simply doing my job, as I ordinarily do."
She, again, denied Zuma's allegation that Downer had leaked the medical records to her.
"I requested and obtained the court papers from Mr Breitenbach, not Mr Downer. This readily appears from the sworn statements that both Mr Breitenbach and I made in April 2022…"