By Irene Kuppan
National police Commissioner Bheki Cele will ask for a public apology from IFP officials over comments they made regarding his involvement in a pre-election clash between IFP supporters and police in KwaZulu-Natal.
Although Cele's court application for an interdict against the IFP officials was dismissed yesterday, he is demanding an apology based on Judge Achmat Jappie's comments that IFP officials failed to establish any justification for publishing the statements.
Cele wanted the court to interdict the party, its leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi, national organiser Albert Mncwango and MP Velaphi Ndlovu from publishing defamatory comments about him relating to the incident in Nongoma in February this year.
When Jappie dismissed the application yesterday he said granting the interdict now would be "purely academic" and have no practical effect.
"A court will not grant an interdict to restrain an act already committed," he said.
He did, however, order IFP officials to pay the costs of the application.
Cele launched the application in February while he was still the MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison.
He had accused the IFP and its officials of "ploughing seeds of hatred" and demanded a retraction of statements that he had taken a gun from police, waved it at IFP supporters and provoked police to use rubber bullets and teargas on the supporters.
The ANC and IFP were holding election rallies in Nongoma in February this year when the run-in with IFP supporters and police took place.
Yesterday Jappie acknowledged that Cele's right to personal dignity had been infringed and, further, that IFP officials had failed to establish any justification for publishing the statements.
It is on the basis of this second comment that Cele is asking for an apology, according to Cele's spokeswoman Nonkululeko Mbatha.
She said yesterday that the legal team would now "demand a public apology".
Mbatha said the judgment had been welcomed, particularly the cost order.
In a statement released yesterday Buthelezi, who viewed the court's decision as a victory for the IFP, welcomed Jappie's decision, saying he was "delighted" at the outcome of the case.
The judge said while the publication of the statements injured Cele's reputation, before granting an interdict the court had to be satisfied that there were reasonable grounds for believing that the injury of harm complained about would continue.
Jappie said that the events that occurred in Nongoma were a run-up to the April elections and the last time the statements in question were published was on or about February 24, 2009, more than six months ago and there had been no further publication since.
There was no evidence that any further publication of the comments could be anticipated in the future, the judge commented.
The judge said that without evidence of a further threatened harm, there was no legal basis for him to grant the final interdict.