Pretoria High Court grants interim win to Malema in urgent defamation bid

Judge issues interim order preventing further alleged defamation

The Gauteng High Court in Pretoria has granted interim relief to Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema in an urgent application seeking to stop cultural activist and former radio presenter Ngizwe Mchunu from repeating alleged defamatory statements.

What the court ordered

The court issued an interim order restraining Mchunu from publishing or causing to be published any further defamatory statements about Malema in terms similar to the statements set out in the application. The order covers statements in which the respondent directly or indirectly, explicitly, impliedly, or otherwise repeats or causes to be repeated the same or similar allegations as those in the impugned statements.

Alleged remarks at issue

In court papers Mchunu was quoted as having made inflammatory remarks during separate media interviews in Pretoria on Tuesday, 28 April and in Johannesburg on Thursday, 30 April. The papers record Mchunu as saying:

“Julius Malema…he recently got 60 million from the Nigerian drug dealers, that’s why he is highly protected and is also willing to lose everything that he has, politically, in order to protect Nigerians and other illegal immigrants. He is eating money of illegal foreigners, he is getting 60 million from illegal foreigners, this Julius Malema. I do not care what he does; he is a dead snake, his time is over. Julius Malema, you are a dog; you sold the people of South Africa to illegal foreigners. I am not scared of you, my boy…”

Costs and next steps

The court ordered Mchunu to pay the costs of part A of the application, including the costs of two counsel where so employed, on the scale as between attorney and client. He was called upon to show cause on 19 May 2026 why the interim order should not be made final.

For the settlement portion of the application (part B), the matter will proceed to trial or oral evidence on a date to be arranged with the Registrar of the Court.

Response from the EFF

The EFF welcomed the order, saying it affirmed that “reckless lies, political misinformation, and slander cannot be normalised under the guise of public commentary or political activism.” The party said in court its legal representatives argued that the statements were “entirely false, malicious, politically motivated, and intended to portray him as a criminal and dishonest leader.”

The EFF said the ruling was an important victory for Malema personally and for the principle that truth must prevail over propaganda and mob disinformation, and added that “the courts have sent a clear message that freedom of expression does not include the freedom to defame others with baseless criminal allegations.”

Context

The urgent application sought an apology, a retraction and R1 million in settlement. The court’s interim order curtails further publication of statements in the terms of the impugned remarks while the matter proceeds toward a final determination.