The Johannesburg High Court has set aside the ex parte order handed down against amaBhungane last month in which it was ordered to return leaked documents pertaining to the operations of the Moti Group and“The order granted to the applicants on 1 June 2023 and amended on 3 June 2023 is set aside in its entirety,” Gauteng deputy judge president Ronald Sutherland held.
He said that with regard to the first part of the order, namely returning the documents, that it was “a nonsense” as compliance within 48 hours would have preceded the return date, which being in October was four months away. “The elephant in this case is not press freedom or a violation of privacy. Rather, it is a most egregious abuse of the process of court. It is manifest that the order granted on 1 June should never have been sought ex parte, still less granted,” Sutherland said. Sutherland added that a key aspect of the work of investigative journalists was the protection of sources.
Sutherland further noted that there was a well-established norm in law against pre-publication restraints on the media, dictating that these should be granted only where publication of the material was not in the public interest.
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