Section 12 of Divorce Act declared unconstitutional

The Sunday Times last week won the right to publish a report it was forced to pull following a late night gagging order Difford obtained last year. In April the celebrity former estate agency boss obtained an urgent interdict blocking the newspaper from publishing a report under the headline ‘Man sues tycoon over 30-year lie’ after she claimed publication of the report violated the Divorce Act. Acting Judge Bruce Burman’s order has been overturned by acting Judge Nazeer Cassim who found Burman had erred in granting the interdict and hadn’t properly considered the prejudice to the Sunday Times when he made his ruling. Claire was sued by her ex-husband on the basis that she ‘wrongfully, unlawfully and fraudulently’ lied to him for more than 20 years. He claimed that she had made financial demands on him based on him being the father to ‘induce’ him to pay for Paul’s upbringing, education and all other amenities of life. Cassim also found that Section 12 of the Divorce Act was unconstitutional, adding that the scrapping thereof would not unduly impact the right to privacy and the rights of children, which could be enforced in court where warranted. This ruling paves the way for a Constitutional Court challenge of Section 12, which bars the media from publishing certain details in divorce cases. Sunday Times attorney Eric van den Berg said the paperwork for the Constitutional Court challenge would be filed within 15 days. Full Sunday Times report