By Ella Smook
President Jacob Zuma is considering a British newspaper's improved settlement offer after he rejected its earlier "inadequate" apology, says his legal spokesperson Liesl Göttert.
Zuma instituted a defamation action against The Guardian in the High Court of Justice in London, after the paper ran an article on March 6 entitled "Get used to a corrupt and chaotic South Africa. But don't write it off", in which Zuma was referred to as a "criminal" and a "rapist".
In its initial apology, the newspaper said an "editing error" had produced its statement that Zuma had been found guilty of rape. It offered a partial retraction, an apology for the false allegation of rape, and a settlement offer of £10 000 (about R128 000 at current rates).
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On the issue of the criminal allegations, the paper's apology stated: "We also alleged that he was guilty of corruption and bribery. We would like to clarify that since the article was published all criminal charges against Mr Zuma have been dropped by the South African National Prosecuting Authority on the basis that the timing of the decision to prosecute him in the first place was politically motivated."
Zuma decided to press ahead with his libel action because the paper failed to fully retract all allegations and publish a sufficiently full and prominent apology.
On Sunday Gottert would not say what the new offer entailed, as she had not yet been given the green light to discuss the matter.
- This article was originally published on page 5 of Cape Argus on June 01, 2009
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