Johannesburg - Independent Newspapers on Saturday declined to comment on a report that an ANC businessman plans to sue the Sunday Independent for defamation of R1 billion.
“We are not making any comments,” group executive editor Karima Brown told Sapa on Saturday.
Attorneys for information technology mogul Robert Gumede have already served the newspaper with a notice of intention to sue in the biggest defamation claim in South African history, the Saturday Star reported.
The notice said an article published on Gumede caused him “serious commercial and reputational damage”.
The Sunday Independent published a report on March 2 headlined “ANC funder probed”.
The report claims that Gumede's JSE-listed IT firm, Gijima, is the subject of an investigation authorised by President Jacob Zuma.
The report alleges that Zuma signed a proclamation for the Special Investigating Unit to probe a tender awarded by the Department of Rural Development to Gumede's company.
The notice claims the report is defamatory and the headline sensational. - Sapa