A case of defamation brought against mining activists and environmental lawyers by Australian mining company Mineral Commodities (MRC) and its SA subsidiary, Mineral Sands for defamation following running battles over proposed titanium mining operations in Xolobeni, on the Wild Coast in the Eastern Cape, might yet offer more protection for whistle-blowers.

The Constitutional Court ruled that strategic litigation against public participation (Slapp) was abuse of the court process, and that the defendants amend their pleas.

The Constitutional Court ruled yesterday that Slapp, a litigation process that made its first appearance in South African courts in this matter, though prevalent in Canada and the US, is an abuse of process and matters proved to be under the process will be automatically thrown out of the local courts.

Yesterday’s judgment is a prelude to the defamation case, but only if it is proved that the matters brought to court are not an abuse of the court process.

Another determination is that the companies prove the case for defamation as an entity, as well as that the collective R14 million in damages demanded from the defendants were actual losses it suffered from utterances made by the defendants in the matter.

This is in a matter dating back to 2017 where the MRC, former MRC executive chairperson Mark Caruso, and MRC’s black empowerment partner Zamile Qunya is suing environmental lawyer Cormac Cullinan, as well as Tracey Davies and Christine Reddell, who...

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