Leepile triumphs against Phumaphi

In the contentious case, which has been before the High Court for 13 years, Justice Phumaphi sued The Voice newspaper, its editor, publishers and Leepile for P850,000 for defaming him. The suit arose after Leepile’s draft study document critiquing the 2000 Balopi Commission preceding the Botswana constitutional amendments of section 77, 78 and 79, received unauthorised publication in the weekly tabloid in July 2001.

The paper, which Leepile argued effectively in court was an internal discussion document meant for a few scholarly friends to comment on, went under the heading, ‘The ethnic composition of the public service - The case of the Administration of Justice and the Attorney General’s Chambers’. While the document was sent to a peer at Mmegi for feedback, it was circulated and ended up being published in The Voice without his consent, Leepile argued in court.