Mphoko's $50 million claim against Daily News flops

Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko's $50 million defamation lawsuit against Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ) yesterday went up in smoke, following the dismissal of his application for recession of judgment.

Mphoko's urgent chamber application was entertained by High Court judge, Justice Lavender Makoni, who ruled in favour of the publishers of the Daily News and ordered the VP to pay for "wasted costs".

Justice Makoni's judgment was delivered in the motion court by Justice Charles Hungwe, who only read the operative part of the judgment.

"This is the judgment by my sister judge, Makoni and the operative part of the judgment reads as follows: The urgent chamber application by the applicant (Mphoko) is dismissed and the applicant is ordered to pay the respondents wasted costs," Justice Hungwe said.

The dismissed urgent chamber application by the VP came about after another judge, Justice Joseph Musakwa, in March this year, dismissed Mphoko's damages claim after he failed to turn up for a pre-trial conference at the High Court.

Mphoko had earlier filed the lawsuit claiming the Daily News had soiled his reputation over an article published in July last year.

He then applied for a default judgment against ANZ, claiming the latter had wilfully failed to attend a pre-hearing conference, but the judgment was rescinded, after it was established the publishers had not been properly served. In his claim, Mphoko had demanded $50 million compensation alleging the published article, on June 5, 2015, based on an interview with former war veterans' leader, Jabulani Sibanda was defamatory.