Maphatsoe apologises after grim day in court

Deputy Defence Minister Kebby Maphatsoe, who doubles as head of the MK Veterans Association (MKMVA), has done a u-turn in a R1m defamation suit by retracting and apologising for the defamatory statements he made about Ronnie Kasrils, the former Intelligence Minister, on a day when his ill-considered words also landed him in trouble in a second defamation action (see report below). In a settlement reached in the Kasrils matter in the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria), Maphatsoe and the MKMVA admitted Maphatsoe's statements were ‘false, offensive and unacceptable’ and also extended the apology ‘to all women of SA’. Maphatsoe reportedly managed to avoid a personal apology to Kasrils, notes Legalbrief, but nevertheless shook hands with the former Minister. According to a report on the News24 site, the parties agreed that Maphatsoe and the MKMVA would apologise and pay Kasrils R500 000. Central to the case is President Jacob Zuma's 2006 rape trial. At the time that the charges were laid against Zuma, Maphatsoe and other ANC officials maintained that Zuma was the victim of a ‘honey trap’ – and that the woman had been sent to seduce Zuma. Zuma was acquitted. He maintained afterwards that he was the victim of a plot. Maphatsoe reportedly said the plot against Zuma had come from the Intelligence Ministry. He said Kasrils, who was Intelligence Minister at that time, had ‘handpicked the woman who alleged Zuma had raped her’. The settlement will see R200 000 being paid within 30 days while the rest of the R300 000 would be paid in instalments of R25 000 over 12 months. They would also pay the costs of Kasrils' team.