Durban - Pietermaritzburg businessman Sunny Gayadin, who is being sued for insulting a senior journalist and alleging he took bribes, was on Monday compared to Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.
This was the rebuttal argument by attorney Anand Nepaul, acting for SABC journalist Yogenathan “Gary” Govindsamy, in a R100 000 damages claim in the Durban Magistrate’s Court.
He was responding on Monday to the closing arguments of Naren Sangham, Gayadin’s attorney.
Nepaul said it was clear Gayadin had “behaved like a brash schoolyard bully in his quest to have his way”.
“It is his way or the highway. Hail Hitler,” Nepaul argued.
Judgment in the matter has been reserved.
It is alleged Gayadin called Lotus FM in December 2009 seeking an on-air interview about the apparent arrest of Bollywood singer Shaan Mukherjee, whose passport, Gayadin claimed, was confiscated and his two Johannesburg shows cancelled.
Gayadin had secured a court order against Mukherjee authorising his arrest unless he could provide security for the debt Mukherjee allegedly owed.
The entertainer was not arrested, but surrendered his passports to the sheriff of the court.
Govindsamy, who was the bulletin editor for Lotus FM at the time, had testified to telling Gayadin, during a telephone conversation, he could not broadcast the story as the claims of the singer’s arrest could not be verified.
Govindsamy claimed Gayadin then insulted him by using vulgar and derogatory words. Further, he said Gayadin told him that once he bought Lotus FM, an SABC radio station, he would fire Govindsamy.
Govindsamy also claimed Gayadin had contacted SABC’s then acting KwaZulu-Natal regional editor, Thabo Mofokeng, telling him Govindsamy was ”taking bribes” and was on “somebody’s payroll”.
Gayadin has denied all the allegations.
Nepaul had argued that Govindsamy, a journalist for more than 30 years, had been “humiliated and degraded” by these utterances.
In his defence, Gayadin’s attorney had argued it was an “untruth” that the information could not be verified, because Gayadin had faxed a copy of the court order to the Lotus FM newsroom.
He also argued that anyone could have called Mofokeng using Gayadin’s name, and said Mofokeng had conceded this during cross-examination.
Sangham said Gayadin conceded to calling someone at the SABC to complain about Govindsamy, but denied there was any other conversation bet-ween him and any other official.
Sangham also said the alleged obscene words were slang terms used in the Indian community and were not defamatory.
He argued that the reason for Govindsamy’s reluctance in broadcasting the information was that it was in conflict with the financial interest of SABC employee Vikash Mathura who, at the time, was a benefactor of this intended show.
Sangham said it was understandable that Gayadin would be “irritated” that the SABC was refusing to broadcast information which was in the public’s interest.
He argued that the Indian community in KZN and Gauteng would have spent large amounts of money buying tickets for a show that was now cancelled, and that Gayadin was within his rights to bring it to the public’s attention.
Sangham argued Mukherjee was arrested, as the court order read that the artist was not free to leave the precincts of the Durban International Airport until he had furnished security.
On Monday, Nepaul rebutted Sangham’s argument, saying it “wanes from fact and waxes into fiction”.
He argued it was only reasonable when one made a request for an article to be published, that a person should expect a “yes” or a “no”.
“In the defendant’s (Gayadin) world, only the (one) exists, and goes to the crux of the issue before this Honourable Court. It is his way or the highway. Hail Hitler,” said Nepaul.
He argued that Mofokeng testified to recognising Gayadin’s voice from the phone calls and that Gayadin did not lead any evidence or show any proof that the person Mofokeng spoke to was not him.
Nepaul also said no arrest was effected against the artist, and Gayadin had incorrectly argued that because the order provided for an arrest, that such had occurred.
Further, he said Gayadin failed to show how Mathura would benefit financially from the show.
Nepaul said Gayadin tended to be “overbearing” and that he was pursuing his own selfish interests and not those of the public.
Daily News