{"id":22960,"date":"2026-01-14T13:38:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T13:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/22960\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T13:38:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T13:38:14","slug":"bitter-legal-action-far-from-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/22960\/","title":{"rendered":"Bitter legal action far from over"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\tIn December last year Masuku, won an urgent defamation case against Phasha.\n\t<\/p>\n

The legal battle and bitter spat between ANC Johannesburg Regional Chairperson Loyiso Masuku and political analyst and podcast host Phapano Phasha are heating up.<\/p>\n

In December last year, Masuku won an urgent defamation case against Phasha. <\/p>\n

Ruling<\/p>\n

Masuku, who defeated Dada Morero to become the first woman to lead the Johannesburg region of the ANC, sought an interdict against Phasha for making defamatory remarks about her in public.<\/p>\n

In a podcast, Phasha alleged that Masuku belongs to a so-called \u201cPPE cartel\u201d and suggested that she bought votes to defeat Morero. She was also labelled a \u201cpsychopath\u201d.<\/p>\n

Judge Mahomed J found Phasha\u2019s statements to be false, defamatory, unlawful, and malicious,<\/a> and ordered the podcast producer to remove the episode from platforms such as YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.<\/p>\n

ALSO READ:\u00a0Public Protector clears Presidency in controversial Inkwazi catering scandal<\/a><\/p>\n

Appeal<\/p>\n

Now Phasha\u2019s lawyers have written to Masuku\u2019s legal team, Vaughn, Schwartz and Company Inc. Attorneys, informing them of the podcaster\u2019s decision to appeal the order granted by the Gauteng Division of the High Court in Johannesburg on 31 December 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cKindly note that we have received instructions to appeal the entire judgment and order granted by the honourable court. Our client has been duly notified of the order, and the necessary steps to note and the appeal will be taken in accordance with the applicable Rules of Court.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this regard, we record that the noting of an appeal has the effect of suspending the operation and execution of the judgment, pending the finalisation of the appeal, unless a court orders otherwise,\u201d Malebana DJ Attorneys said.<\/p>\n

Court \u2018misdirected\u2019<\/p>\n

Malebana said they trust that \u201cno steps will be taken to enforce or serve the order pending the appeal process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phasha said she instructed her lawyers to apply for leave to appeal because she believes the court has misdirected itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe take this route because we strongly believe a fundamental pillar of our democracy, the equal application of the law and accountability for those in power, has been severely compromised,\u201d she told\u00a0The Citizen.<\/p>\n

\u201cTherefore, my path forward is twofold. First, to pursue the appeal of this judgment. Second, and more critically, to demand answers on behalf of the public. My legal team and I will now be acting directly on the Special Investigating Unit (SIU)\u2019s referrals by writing to the National Prosecuting Authority\u00a0(NPA) to demand a formal explanation for their failure to prosecute,\u201d Phasha added.<\/p>\n

The Citizen has contacted Masuku for comment. This will be included in the story once received.<\/p>\n

NOW READ:\u00a0SA \u2018serious about fighting financial crime and corruption\u2019 \u2014 Ramaphosa<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In December last year Masuku, won an urgent defamation case against Phasha. The legal battle and bitter spat…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22961,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[4484,14159,14160,10500,1459,1260,14161,14162,131],"class_list":{"0":"post-22960","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-south-africa","8":"tag-african-national-congress-anc","9":"tag-apology","10":"tag-dada-morero","11":"tag-defamation","12":"tag-editors-choice","13":"tag-elections","14":"tag-legal-action","15":"tag-ppe-corruption","16":"tag-south-africa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}