Durban - The story about a boy who lost the tip of his penis in an alleged botched circumcision in 2013 could cost the Daily Sun newspaper R3 million in damages.
Details of the claim by Dr Ebby Bongani Mkhabela, a Mpumalanga medical doctor and owner of Mkhago Health Care Services, are in papers filed in the high court in Pretoria.
Mkhabela’s company had been awarded a multi-million rand contract to circumcise hundreds of thousands of boys and men in that province. He said in the papers he was badmouthed in an article published on September 26, 2013.
The heading of the story read: “Family sues doctor over botched circumcision”. But this was while the family was in fact suing the Mpumalanga Department of Health, as well as its national counterpart for R10m. That claim was not against Mkhabela or his company.
The claim was instituted on behalf of the family of the boy, aged 9, who was circumcised in 2008 at the Baberton Hospital in Mpumalanga. It was also stated that circumcisions left 18 young men in severe pain.
In the article, the newspaper allegedly wrongly reported that the claim was against the doctor and his company.
A medical expert was quoted saying that it was paramount that equipment used in circumcision procedures be sterilised.
Mkhabela, who at the time worked for the Mpumalanga Health Department, said in his court papers the context of the article was defamatory towards him. He said readers would interpret it as saying he and his company were being sued for the loss suffered by the boy.
He said it would also be believed that he and his establishment were responsible for the other young men who were hospitalised after they were circumcised.
According to him, the article suggested that he was an unprofessional health care practitioner and posed a danger to the medical fraternity.
In its defence, the newspaper denied the article was wrong or defamatory. It argued that the newspaper, as a member of the media and concerned citizens, had a duty to inform the public of the botched circumcisions taking place in Mpumalanga and the problems emanating from the State’s voluntary medical male circumcision programme.
Acting as the voice of the informed, the Daily Sun was entitled to raise awareness regarding these problems, it was stated.
The newspaper said it did not publish the article recklessly and it constituted a balanced account of the interviews and investigations conducted into these circumcisions.
The newspaper did, however, admit that it wrongly stated that Mkhabela and his company were being sued, instead of the health authorities. But when it was made aware of this error, it did publish an apology to the doctor.
The newspaper said it actually sourced the story from another news agency, but at the time did not question the contents, as it accepted the report on good faith.
The defendant said the only mistake in the article was that the claim was against the doctor and his company.
The Daily Sun made it clear it stood by the rest of the contents and that by publishing the apology, it restored the human dignity which the doctor claimed he had suffered.
Pretoria News