Ace did not withdraw defamation case‚ say lawyers

ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule has not withdrawn a defamation case against Buyisile Ngqulwana‚ but has requested a new court date.

This is according to Magashule’s legal representatives‚ Victor Nkhwashu Attorneys.

The law firm released a statement on Wednesday after reports at the weekend said Magashule had withdrawn the case and was facing a lawsuit from Ngqulwana, the general secretary of the SA Council of Messianic Churches in Christ.

But his lawyers said Magashule was going ahead with  suing Ngqulwana for defamation after the church leader  accused Magashule of being instrumental in the formation of political party ATM.

“Our office has sought and was granted the date of March 26 for the hearing of the defamation suit‚” Victor Nkhwashu said.

“Unfortunately‚ our lead counsel became unavailable due to an unrelated appeal matter ... at the Bloemfontein High Court.

“As a result‚ our office notified the registrar of the high court to allocate us a new date‚ which has been allocated.

For this process to take place‚ the matter has to be removed from the court’s roll of March 26 2020.

“We place on record that the matter between our client against Mr Ngqulwana is not withdrawn‚ but will be heard on April 30 2020 in the high court in Bloemfontein.” – TimesLIVE