Trevor Manuel Threatens to Sue JJ Tabane for Accusing Him of Helping Form COPE, Demands an Apology
- South Africa's former Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel has threatened to sue JJ Tabane for his controversial comments
- Tabane accused Manuel of being a founding member of COPE on his podcast The Hustlers Corner a few weeks ago
- Manuel wants Tabane to retract the comments and apologise for accused him of duplicitous conduct
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CAPE TOWN - Former Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel has threatened to take legal action against JJ Tabane who said he was a founding member of COPE. Tabane made the controversial comments during his podcast The Hustlers Corner a few weeks ago and is being asked to retract them.
Manuel addressed the accusations through a letter and refuted the claims that he played a part in the formation of the political party. The former member of the African National Congress national executive committee said he is irate with the comments.
Source: Getty Images
Manuel demands a public apology or he will sue the media personality for causing damage to his reputation since his words carry greater weight. According to the letter shared by the Daily Maverick, when COPE was founded, Manuel was a member of the ANC NEC and said the accusation “impugns” his integrity.
He also added that Tabane accused him of duplicitous conduct. The media personality has until the end of Wednesday 11 May to retract his statements or legal action will be taken against him.
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Former senior ANC member and a founding member of Cope Mbhazima Shilowa urged people not to spread false narratives regarding the formation of the pollical party and said that people have not learned against peddling lies, News24 reported.
South Africans divided
Social media users cannot seem to pick a side on the matter and weighed in on the accusations:
@PeterGunston1 said:
“Is interesting to see how, even when we all realize that the country is on fire, people bring in useless stuff. So and so started Cope so what?”
@gmalau32 wrote:
“He must sit down and enjoy the money that he gets from big capital for refusing to transform the economy whilst Minister of Finance. He was part of Cope and must not come and pretend here.”
@CraigAnderson01 posted:
“R500k coming soon! People like to spread rumours!”
@Justjanny58 added:
“More inclined to believe JJ.”
@ZiboneleNtsheb6 commented:
“It's good, at least JJ would get an opportunity to provide evidence.”
EFF loses once again in Trevor Manuel defamation case
In a related matter, Briefly News also reported the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) have lost once again in appealing the case that the party defamed the Former Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel. The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) validated a finding that the EFF defamed the former minister.
Trevor Manuel sued the EFF after the political party released a statement that said he was corrupt in the process of appointing South African Revenue Service (SARS) commissioner Edward Kieswetter.
On Thursday morning, the SCA decided that the EFF did not have to pay damages to Manuel but instead had to apologise to him in another court. The EFF was put on blast for putting out the statement on the basis that they had received it from a secret source.
Source: Briefly News
