ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema had yet to file responding papers by noon on Tuesday to a defamation case lodged by DA leader Helen Zille, her lawyer said.
Attorney Amanda Torr said Malema, as well as youth league spokesman Floyd Shivambu, Khayelitsha councillor Andile Lili and the youth league would have until close of business to file papers.
“If no papers are filed by the end of the day, we will launch an application for an order striking out the defendants' defence and that judgment be granted in favour of the plaintiff,” she said.
She could not comment on reports that Lili had filed his papers. Lili's attorney, Thobelani Sibiya, was not immediately available to comment.
Two weeks ago, Western Cape High Court Judge Nathan Erasmus ordered the four to file papers in response to Zille's R1.4 million lawsuit, for comments they made about her and the DA from 2009.
She said Shivambu had called her a “racist girl” and claimed that her all-male executive were her boyfriends and concubines.
She also took issue with Malema calling her executive council a “group of racist Helen Zille garden boys” and referring to her as “racist”, “colonialist” and “imperialist”.
The group had yet to apologise or retract their statements. – Sapa