by Thinus Ferreira
The court will this week decide whether it will grant an interdict to the disgraced former South African minister Malusi Gigaba who wants to prevent the airing of an episode in which one of his ex-wives talk about her experience of his sordid past, or whether MultiChoice's streamer Showmax will be able to show it.
Malusi Gigaba, a shamed former South African minister of home affairs, as well as public enterprise, and finance between 2010 and 2018 has cellphone videos of himself from 2018 on the internet and social media holding his penis and saying "imagine this in your mouth" as well as a sex video.
He is now trying to prevent Nomachule (Norma) Mngoma from talking about the breakdown of her marriage, in which she says "he lied until the day the video leaked".
Mngoma is Malusi Gigaba's second wife and is talking in a sit-down interview in a new Showmax talk show series entitled Untied in which divorced women talk about their exes.
Malusi Gigaba, an ANC political party member, is a member of the National Assembly and is back in parliament as chairperson of the standing committee on defence and military veterans, and is also a member of the portfolio committee for trade, industry and competition.
In Untied, Nomachule Mngoma speaks in-depth about Malusi Gigaba's alleged pornography addiction, his unfaithfulness and extramarital affairs - things she has spoken about before. She also discusses the claims that he was involved in her arrest and having allegedly used taxpayer money for personal travels.
In Untied Nomachule Mngoma says Malusi Gigaba apparently blames his priest father for his sex scandals.
"He would blame his father, because his father was a priest. He grew up looking up to his father and his father cheated on his mother," she says, according to court documents TVwithThinus has seen.
Their divorce was finalised in 2021.
Malusi Gigaba now want to prevent the Untied episode from being released on Showmax and brought an interdict application against GOAT Studios with executive producer Vanessa Tloubatla doing Untied, as well as MultiChoice and Showmax.
Vanessa Tloubatla told Malusi Gigaba that his wife talks about him in the Untied episode and asked him for comment on what his ex-wife had said, but he demanded to first get and see the whole first episode before Showmax airs it.
Although the producers don't have to, GOAT Studios on 12 June supplied seven video sections, each between five and 10 minutes, in which Nomachule Mngoma talks about Malusi Gigaba's alleged extramarital affairs and the fights that there were between them.
Malusi Gigaba told the court that his reputation and "good name" would be tarnished by the airing of the Untied episode, will infringe upon his right to privacy and that the programme is "not in the public interest".
According to court papers, Malusi Gigaba on 14 June told his legal representatives BZ Attorneys that his ex "continues to drag my name in public, regardless of the fact that we have divorced".
About his interdict application BZ Attorneys, after repeated calls, eventually only said "no comment".
Showmax, was only willing to say the streaming service "is opposing the application" with the Webber Wentzel firm representing MultiChoice.
The Untied episode would have been released on 24 June.Although the interdict wasn't granted, MultiChoice on its own accord decided to postpone its release until at least 15 July, to wait for the court application for an interdict to be heard this week.
Brandon Vermeulen, MultiChoice's executive head of legal for general entertainment, in his submitted court affidavit, says Malusi Gigaba took no action previously when Nomachule Mngoma spoke about the implosion of their marriage, noting that the what she said is already in the public domain.
"It is true that he recorded a sex tape and engaged in infidelity. Their lavish lifestyle is well documented," Brandon Vermeulen says.
"It's reasonable for Showmax to convey the personal experience of Mngoma of the breakdown of the marriage- even more so as they have offered Mr Gigaba an opportunity to respond."
"It is not unlawful, unfair, or unreasonable for Multichoice to stream the show on which Nomachule Mngoma speaks about her marriage."
Malusi Gigaba, in his affidavit filed with the court, says "Private correspondence and marital matters have been weaponised and platformed for public consumption, often maliciously and misleadingly."
"While there have been media reports in the past pertaining to my private life, the fact that I did not previously exercise my rights does not mean that I forewent my rights to my good name, reputation and dignity," Malusi Gigaba says.
Meanwhile, Malusi Gigaba's legal action to try and prevent the Showmax episode of Untied makes it more likely that more people will watch it once it becomes available. This is known as the Streisand effect.
The same phenomena happened last year when the criminal Thabo Bester unsuccessfully tried to apply for an interdict to prevent Showmax's release of the documentary series Tracking Thabo Bester.
Once it was released, it had a lot more viewers sampling it, partly due to the convicted criminal's free marketing and publicity through drawing attention to the frivolous attempt to stop it from being shown through failed court action.
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