'We must stand united against peddling of lies' - Hanekom welcomes ruling in defamation case against Zuma
Wanton violence follows false allegations, ANC veteran Derek Hanekom said as he welcomed the court ruling that former president Jacob Zuma's statement that he was "a known enemy agent" is defamatory.
On Friday, Judge Dhaya Pillay of the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Durban declared that Zuma's publication of the tweet describing Hanekom as a "known enemy agent" was unlawful.
She ordered him to remove the tweet and publish an apology on his Twitter account.
Hanekom asked that Zuma pay R500 000 in damages, but the court will make a determination of the damages to be paid later.
"I am pleased that Judge Pillay has ruled that the statement of the former president is defamatory and false and that the phrase 'known enemy agent', in the context in which it was used, would imply 'apartheid spy'," Hanekom said in a statement released shortly after the judgement.