Severe legal sanction for ‘The unlikeable Mr Roberts’

Acting Judge Leslie Weinkove dismissed Roberts’ defamation claim against Johncom Media Investments with costs, including the cost of two counsel. A Business Day report surmises that Roberts’ legal costs could easily exceed R1m. The judgment reiterated the ‘balancing act’ that had to be struck between the constitutional right of an individual to maintain a ‘reputation and good name’, and the right to freedom of speech and the press. Roberts, who was not in court yesterday, sued Johncom over an article written by freelance journalist Chris Barron and published in the Sunday Times under the headline ‘The unlikeable Mr Roberts’. Full Business Day report