Patrice Motsepe allegedly sues Botswana publication for defamation of character

A newspaper in Botswana, which crossed the path of South African mining tycoon Patrice Motsepe, is allegedly being sued for nearly 500 000 dollars for defamation of character.

According to press reports on Thursday, 6 June 2019, Motsepe has filed the defamation lawsuit against the Sunday Standard of Botswana based on an article it published in April 2019.

The publication claimed that Botswana police were allegedly investigating Motsepe and a number of security companies over an alleged plan to smuggle campaign money for the politicians to that country.

The Sunday Standard also claimed that Motsepe had allegedly donated 1.6 million dollars to one politician’s campaign in Botswana.

When asked to confirm the lawsuit, Sizwe Nzimande of the Motsepe Group said: “What I can say to you is that there is a defamation lawsuit against that [the story].

“It has been lodged with the court in Botswana. They [the newspaper] have since retracted the story.”

In spite of the newspaper’s retraction, Nzimande added that Motsepe was still not happy and was going ahead with the lawsuit.

Motsepe’s lawyers also demanded that the Sunday Standard remove the offending statement from its website, the company official said, adding that the mining firm wanted the newspaper to pay for the cost of the lawsuit at the Botswana court.

– APA