Cape Town - Sunday World's editor Mapula Nkosi says the publication stands by their story that media personality Bonang Matheba was due in court over alleged tax fraud.
This comes after Bonang Matheba's PR team said on Tuesday that she would be seeking R10 million in damages following the Sunday World report.
On Wednesday, in a follow-up story titled "Sunday World stands by its story: Hawks pounce on Bonang as SARS zooms in on taxes" Nkosi said that the publication "rejects assertions that have been circulated" that the story in question is "fake".
"We stand by the report and the comment by National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Phindi Louw-Mjonondwane, who firmly confirmed the matter to us. A fraud docket with a case number that Sunday World has seen has been registered at the Johannesburg Central Station against Bonang Dorothy Matheba," an excerpt from the follow-up story reads.
Sunday World also claims that a police officer from the intelligence unit collaborated that a case of fraud was being investigated by the Commercial Crime Investigations Unit and "was indeed registered at the Johannesburg Central Station".
On Tuesday Matheba's legal representative, Charl Coetzee, confirmed to IOL Entertainment in a statement that the star would be suing the publication for defamation over the 26 August articled titled, "Hawks pounce on Bonang as SARS zooms in on taxes".
"We confirm that we have been instructed by our client Miss Bonang Matheba to sue Sunday World Newspaper for an amount of R10 million on the basis of defamation. Various injurious statements were made in an article published by Sunday World on the 26th of August 2018 which have caused our client to suffer significant damages hence our having been instructed to proceed against the newspaper in question," Coetzee said.
Matheba's PR team and a National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwane have refuted claims that Matheba was summoned to appear in the Johannesburg Specialised Commercial Crime Court last week.
According to Channel24, Mjonondwane confirmed that Matheba did not appear in court and that there is no official tax fraud case on the roll against her as it stands.
Meanwhile, Matheba and entertainment commentator Phil Mphela trended on social media on Tuesday and Wednesday. This comes after Mphela weighed in on Matheba's decision to sue Sunday World, which resulted in an ongoing exchange of insults that played out on Twitter. Mphela threatened to release "Sun City files" while Matheba threatened to "beat the sh** out of him".