A lawyer took News24 to court.
Blanchi Costela/Getty Images
- Kevin Maluleke submitted an urgent request to remove an article published on News24.
- He was removed from the defenders list last month.
- Maluleke indicated that he would appeal the ruling.
An application by Limpopo lawyer Kevin Maluleke for a declaratory order against Media24 was struck down for lack of urgency at the Polokwane High Court in Thohoyandou on Tuesday.
Maluleke filed the urgent request requesting that an article published in Media 24 subsidiary News24 about a court order that removed him from the list of advocates be removed from his website.
On 17 January 2023, two judges, Natvarlal Ranchod and Brian Mashile, issued the order in Polokwane High Court following a request from the provincial bar association, the Limpopo Law Society.
An affidavit from the Legal Practice Board in support of the application details Maluleke’s apparent misconduct, ranging from his suspicious admission as a lawyer to unsubstantiated allegations he made against some judges.
In that case, Maluleke’s offer to approach the court urgently was also refused, court documents show.
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Asked for comment, Maluleke said it was based on a law that had been repealed. He said that she intended to appeal.
On Tuesday, after hearing oral submissions from Maluleke, who represented himself in his bid to obtain a declaratory order against Media24 and the defendants’ lawyers, Judge Francis Kganyago dismissed the matter for lack of urgency.
Kganyago said that “the proverbial horse has run away”, as the article had already been published.
He also said Maluleke “was not malicious in applying.”
No cost request was made.
