A Gqeberha resident who went from being a parliamentarian to unemployed has put a hefty R20m price tag on his misfortune, and he wants EFF leader Julius Malema and the rest of the red berets to pay for it.
It is not the first time that the former colleagues and friends will square off in the Gqeberha high court.
In a David vs Goliath-styled court battle in 2019, Malema tried to sue Thembinkosi Rawula for R1m, accusing him of defamation.
But the judge dismissed the case, finding that the way in which Malema had approached the matter was inappropriate and misguided.
Rawula, who is a law student, represented himself at the time.
Malema had slapped the former MP, from Motherwell, with the damages claim by way of an application for a final interdict after Rawula accused the party of having accepted funding from the since liquidated VBS Mutual Bank.
On April 5 2019, Rawula accused the EFF on social media of accepting money from VBS to finance “the revolution”, and that the party’s leaders had dipped into party coffers to fund their expensive lifestyles.
Malema had also asked that Rawula’s statements be declared unlawful and that he be interdicted from publishing any further allegations.
In addition, he wanted a retraction and an unconditional apology, as well as a damages payout of R1m.
Acting judge Nick Mullins said at the time that Rawula had correctly raised the defence of truth and public benefit.
Mullins said due to Rawula’s senior position in the EFF at the time, he had been privy to certain information that led him to believe that his statements were, in fact, true.
Nine months ago, Malema lost the defamation appeal against Rawula in the Supreme Court of Appeal.
Now Rawula has hit back with a civil claim of his own.
In papers filed before the Gqeberha high court, Rawula is seeking a R5m payout for reputational damage.
He said Malema had erred when he wrote a letter alleging that he had published lies and unlawful statements about him to exact “political revenge”.
According to Rawula, Malema’s letter suggested that he is troublesome, a liar, disgruntled, vengeful, ill-disciplined and a power-monger.
He further said the letter claimed that he was undemocratic because he refused to accept organisational democratic processes, and that he felt entitled to electable positions within the party.
Rawula lost his party membership and leadership positions. He was an MP from 2015 to 2019.
The second claim, also for R5m, relates to an interview that aired on national television on April 7 2019, in which Malema was represented by political activist Dr Mbuyiseni Ndlozi.
Rawula felt that during this interview he was made out to be dishonest and lying, a pedlar of unlawful information against the EFF and Malema, and involved with the apartheid machinery on a disinformation campaign under the “Stratcom payroll” (a police unit set up to spread false narratives against political enemies of the National Party government).
“The spreading of this false Stratcom information about [Rawula] is unlawful and it is made with the malicious intent to inflict maximum damage to the political and economic prospects of the plaintiff in SA,” the court papers say.
“[Rawula] has been submitting employment applications since 2019 without success despite the invitation for interviews.”
The third claim of R5m relates to the same interview where Ndlozi reportedly said Rawula’s conduct was considered as a resignation from the EFF.
Rawula said as a result of Malema’s conduct, he did eventually resign from the party.
The last claim of R5m is linked to a media conference that was convened by Malema on April 10 2019 at the EFF headquarters in Johannesburg.
Here Malema is alleged to have said: “Tell your friend Thembinkosi Rawula that I am taking him to the cleaners.”
He also allegedly said Rawula would not be enjoying his parliament pension payout, but would spend it in litigation expenses instead.
The matter was brought before judge Lindiwe Rusi last week.
Malema’s legal representative, advocate Hannelie Bakker, informed the court that they had filed an exception to Rawula’s claim.
The respondents — Malema and the EFF — are of the view that Rawula had failed to justify his reason for suing and that his claim was vague and embarrassing.
Rawula was to reply to the respondents’ exception within 15 days but had failed to do so.
The court heard that he followed it up with irregular steps in terms of the court rules.
Because Rawula is conducting his own defence, it was resolved that he would get guidance from the court’s case management system.
The matter was postponed for this to happen.
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