The victorious applicant in the matter, the leader of the DA in the Free State Legislature, Roy Jankielsohn, took on defamatory statements made by the ANCYL in 2017 in response to comments the DA and Jankielsohn made regarding the ANC Secretary-General and former Free State Premier Ace Magashule’s controversial Honourary Doctorate awarded by the Turkish tertiary institution, Bahcesehir University in 2017.

The DA – Jankielsohn in particular - cast doubt around the legitimacy of the honorary doctorate, alleging the Turkish University in question had received approximately R32 million from the provincial government over the 2016/17 financial year prior to awarding Magashule the doctorate. The ANCYL responded making defamatory and derogatory comments about him in the public space thereafter. “The ANCYL made defamatory comments about me calling me a clown, a redneck, a racist, a Chihuahua and various other things instead of dealing with the issues which we raised, they chose to defame me in a statement in public,” says Jankielsohn. The ANCYL previously told OFM News Jankielsohn’s case was baseless.

Judge Johann Daffue further orders the ANCYL to cover the legal costs of the suit. The matter was initially scheduled to sit in April, but a few hours before proceedings were meant to get underway the ANCYL’s legal counsel requested the matter to be postponed to 12 and 13 August 2019.

Meanwhile, ANCYL spokesperson, Sello Peterson, tells OFM News they are still studying the judgment.

OFM News/Lucky Nkuyane and Olebogeng Motse