Cape Town - Advocate Dali Mpofu is set to represent axed Idols SA judge Gareth Cliff in his R25 million lawsuit against M-Net, his lawyer has said.
Mpofu, former CEO of the SABC and current EFF national chairman, was preparing the court papers to be served if the broadcaster did not reinstate Cliff, the controversial DJ’s lawyer Eric Mabuza said earlier on Monday.
Gareth Cliff lawsuit: M-Net given deadline
Mabuza confirmed on Monday that Cliff would sue M-Net for R25 million for wrongful dismissal and defamation of character if the broadcaster did not reinstate him on the Idols SA judging panel.
“M-Net has until today at 2pm to announce a decision to do so or the court papers will be served,” Mabuza said.
On Monday M-Net’s CEO Yolisa Phahle confirmed that a letter of demand was received from Cliff.
“We are currently consulting our lawyers. We will respond to the letter of demand in due course.”
It is unclear at this stage if they had responded by the 2pm deadline.
M-Net announced earlier this month that Cliff had been fired from Idols SA after he got involved in the Penny Sparrow debacle.
In a Facebook post which sparked monumental social media outrage, Sparrow, a former estate agent, referred to black people as “monkeys”.
Cliff then weighed in on the issue, tweeting that “People really don’t understand free speech at all.”
After widespread criticism, Cliff said on his blog that his comments were taken the wrong way.
Shortrly after Cliff became embroiled in the #pennysparrow saga, Mpofu and Cliff engaged each other on Twitter. He subsequently invited Mpofu as well as DJ Fresh for an open discussion on racism on CliffCentral.com.
There was mixed reaction on Twitter to the news that Mpofu would be representing Cliff.
@Siya_Lota tweeted: Gareth Cliff is showing your government executives that black lawyers are as capable as their white counterparts. Well done @GarethCliff
And @_mzi: Dali Mpofu is representing Gareth Cliff what a time to be alive. I love this country.
Others questioned Mpofu for taking on the job.
#DaliMpofu from #MarikanaCommision to representing some racist #GarethCliff..? said @DreschVianoV6.
@Mngxitama tweeted: I wonder how does @AdvDali_Mpofu reconcile representing racists and claiming to be against racism. ok, forgot they don't believe what say.
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