"CER Attorneys Raise Constitutional Defence in SLAPP Suit, and Experts Join as Friends of The Court", 20 Nov 2017

The defendants in the defamation suit brought by a subsidiary of Australian mining company Mineral Commodities Limited (MRC), including two CER attorneys, have raised Constitutional arguments in response to the defamation claims. The University of Cape Town (UCT) and the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) at the University of the Witwatersrand have intervened in the matter as amicus curiae. UCT and CALS will address the court on issues of academic freedom, and CALS will provide further expertise on the nature and effect of ”Strategic Litigation against Public Participation”, also known as “SLAPP suits“, in both the South African context and with reference to foreign jurisdictions...As reported in May 2017, two Centre for Environmental Rights’ (CER) attorneys and a local community activist from Lutzville have been sued for defamation by MRC subsidiary Mineral Sands Resources (MSR) and its director, Zamile Qunya, claiming a total of R 1,250,000 in damages from the three defendants...