City pays to settle defamation case

THE city has forked out R50 000 to settle a defamation case after its “insensitive” former chief financial officer Mike Richardson was sued for calling a property developer a liar.

Richardson left the city last year and was replaced by Kevin Jacoby as the chief financial officer when mayor Patricia de Lille brought in a new management team.

Freedom Front Plus councillor Andre Fourie requested details about the case from De Lille, who confirmed that the city had settled the matter on behalf of Richardson.

The developer, Jacko Maree, had complained to then mayor Helen Zille that he was struggling to get information from the city and had failed several times.

Richardson then wrote an e-mail to Maree telling him to stop spreading lies about city officials.

Maree sued for defamation. He sued for R150 000, but the city settled, paying only a third of that.

De Lille said the settle- ment of R50 000 plus costs was agreed without admission of liability and purely in the interest of settling the matter and avoiding further litigation.

De Lille said Section 109A of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act which clearly states that the city will cover the costs of defending the action, “if the insurers do not accept liability”.

“The insurers did accept liability, but will only be liable for costs on the High Court tariff. There are some costs which the city has already paid relating to attorney and client professional assistance rendered by Fairbridges, and there will be a further amount due in terms of their final account which has not yet been received.”

Fourie called on the city to review its policy on having insurers accept liability and covering the costs for officials in defamation cases.

“That money must be paid back by Mike and the city is protecting him,” said Fourie.

Richardson couldn’t be reached for comment yesterday.