The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) says it has instructed its lawyers to appeal the ruling against them to pay half a million rand in damages to former Finance minister, Trevor Manuel over a defamatory tweet published in March.

The High Court in Johannesburg also gave them 24 hours to retract the statement and make an unconditional apology.

The EFF says they will not adhere to the court order as they will be appealing the judgment.

 

Manuel had been appointed by the President to chair an interview panel for the top job at SARS.

The EFF charged that the panel was operating in secret to hide Manuel’s corruption and nepotism. In actual fact, Manuel recused himself from an interview because he had worked with that candidate previously.

The EFF alleged that the two were also related, but Manuel has denied this. The court found that the EFF acted in malice by publishing unverified statements on social media. The statement was found to be defamation and unlawful.