High Court judge Justice Hlekani Mwayera is today expected to preside over a defamation case involving Herald sports editor Robson Sharuko and Zifa board member Elliot Kasu.
The matter will be heard in chambers. Kasu is demanding $300 000 compensation from Sharuko and Zimpapers, publishers of The Herald, for damages he allegedly suffered after the former published on October 11 2010 under the headline “Sharuko threatened”. In the case, recorded under HC 8835/11, Kasu claims Sharuko and Zimpapers published defamatory and wrongful statements which damaged his reputation.
Kasu claims that some of the words contained in the story were wrongful and defamatory and meant to portray him as a “bully” as well as “an incompetent administrator who instead of concentrating on the good management of the game, spent time intimidating those persons who would question his decisions”.
Kasu further claims that on October 16, 2010, The Herald published another article headlined, “Zifa Board Member Elliot Kasu in Court” which quoted him as saying he was “fed up with the football system where only one man Sharuko was holding influence”. The article, Kasu declared further, claimed that he was going to “hunt Sharuko and would get to fix him once and for all”.
The Zifa board member also claims that on October 23, 2010, Sharuko wrote an article in The Herald, headlined “Tears From The Heart” in which he said: “I’m determined to serve my country as well as I have done all these years, and I can assure you that a bunch of funny characters whose administrative capacity has been questioned and exposed will not intimidate me into the shell.”
Kasu claims he suffered damages of $100 000 on each occasion that defamatory material was published against him.
However, Sharuko and Zimpapers have denied the charges claiming the published material was not defamatory and that as a public figure Kasu was liable to scrutiny by the media.
“The quantum of damages lacks any justification as they outrageously defy logic. Moreso, the Plaintiff claim must be dismissed and costs be granted on a high scale against him,” reads part of the defendants’ plea.
