Johannesburg – The chairperson of the City Power board, Rev Frank Chikane, has lodged a civil claim of R500 000 against two former SA Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) members for defamation.
Legal action is to be taken against Felix Nditsheni Radzilani and Ester Mtatyana, erstwhile regional executives of Samwu and employees of Pikitup, for allegedly defamatory statements relating to false allegations. Chikane is also demanding that they apologise in writing.
Chikane says the claim is for reparation following false allegations of impropriety levelled against him and his wife.
The two had allegedly written to Joburg mayor Herman Mashaba, informing him that City Power managing director Sicelo Xulu had approved and awarded a tender – claiming to be a project of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) – to Chikane’s wife.
Chikane’s wife used to be the stakeholder relationship manager at the CSIR and interacted with a number of state-owned entities during the course of her duties on smart city strategies. However, she is no longer working there, as she has resigned.
Chikane says the allegations have no basis at all, and were meant to damage the couple’s reputation.
He instituted a legal process with the following demands to the defendants:
Payment of R250 000 to each of the plaintiffs, amounting to R500 000.
A written public retraction and apology of the defamatory statements.
Payment for costs of the lawsuit.
The R500 000 lawsuit will incur an interest of 10.5% a year from the date of service of the summons to the date of payment.
The sheriff of the high court in Joburg has already served the defendants with the summons.
The summons stipulate that should the defendants wish to dispute the legal action, they should file a motion with the registrar of the high court and notify Chikane’s legal representatives within 10 days of receipt of the summons.
“I can confirm that I have instructed my legal representatives to lodge a civil claim against the defendants for the defamatory and unfounded allegations against me and my family,” Chikane says.
“These claims are not only irresponsible and reckless, but out of kilter with the values I stand for, and have further called my integrity into question. It is time we stood up and called out rumour mongers and used the judiciary to curb this creeping practice of character assassination.”
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