[Marxism] South Africa: How whites won the economy

[Patrick Bond]

A fine book, Christi has written. And she was just sued by the notorious 
apartheid torturer Eugene de Kock, and won on Friday.




Court lifts ban on apartheid book

Fri, 07 Dec 2007

The Pretoria High Court has reversed a temporary ban on the book 'White 
Power — the Rise and Fall of the National Party'.

Judge Willie Seriti on Friday discharged an interim court order granted 
last month to Eugene De Kock to recall the book and stop its further 
publication, distribution and sale.

He will give reasons for his ruling next year.

Apartheid-era policeman De Kock objected to the passage: "Another 
example would be Eugene de Kock braaing meat and drinking for hours next 
to a corpse that they had set on fire".

De Kock said was devoid of all truth, defamed him and harmed his "good 
name and reputation".

He was in 1996 sentenced to two life terms plus 212 years imprisonment 
for offences committed in the apartheid years.

Author Christi van der Westhuizen hailed the ruling as a victory for 
freedom of expression.

In her application for the initial order to be set aside, Author Christi 
van der Westhuizen described the interim ruling as "draconian" and an 
infringement of her rights.

She told the court De Kock's reputation was already in tatters and he 
had no good name to protect.

Her counsel argued that De Kock deliberately misled the court by failing 
to reveal that the alleged offending words were actually attributed to 
former deputy Law and Order Minister Leon Wessels.

He also failed to mention that both his trial judge and the TRC had 
called him a cold-blooded murderer who had tortured his victims 
callously and handled their remains without compassion.

Van der Westhuizen said afterwards the ruling was a victory for freedom 
of expression, specifically where people like Eugene de Kock was seeking 
to silence her on a section of South Africa's history during which human 
rights abuses occurred.

In the process, he also wanted to block the public from reading about 
those parts of history.

"It's a reassertion of our right as South Africans to know what had 
happened in our past," she said.

Van der Westhuizen said her publisher had reached an agreement with De 
Kock to withdraw the book and replace the particular page without the 
sentence in question.

"But that settlement is now without any effect, because it was based on 
the interim order. The book is still available."

Sapa

***

De Kock cries defamation
Boyd Webb
December 05 2007 at 09:49AM

Copies of the book White Power - The Rise and Fall of the National Party 
were withdrawn from the shelves on Tuesday after jailed Vlakplaas 
commander Eugene de Kock cried foul.

De Kock launched a High Court lawsuit claiming that sections of the book 
written by former award winning journalist Christi van der Westhuizen 
were defamatory.

Van der Westhuizen, Inter Press Service and Zebra Press, against whom De 
Kock launched his application, were expected to appear in the High Court 
on Wednesday.

In the application, De Kock is hoping to gain a court order preventing 
the book from being sold.

De Kock, who in 1996 was sentenced to two life sentences plus 212 years 
in prison, objected to the passage: "Another example would be Eugene de 
Kock braaing meat and drinking for hours next to a corpse that had been 
set on fire."

In court papers, De Kock said these allegations were totally devoid of 
the truth and were intended to mislead and to shock for sensationalist 
purposes.

The book's publishers, Zebra Press, said on Tuesday that they had agreed 
to withdraw the book and reprint the offending section.

Publishing manager Marlene Fryer said they had reached an agreement with 
De Kock's lawyers whereby they would withdraw the book from stores and 
correct the "factual error".

Fryer said about 1 500 books had already been dispatched to book shops 
in the month since it was launched.

But Van der Westhuizen on Tuesday did not believe that she was wrong. 
"Eugene de Kock demanded an apology saying that I defamed him but I will 
not apologise to him," she said.

Van der Westhuizen said the offending section was a quote from former 
deputy law and order minister Leon Wessels.

"I am convinced I am correct."

Van der Westhuizen, who admitted she was totally taken aback by the 
application, said the agreement reached between De Kock's lawyers and 
her publishers had nothing to do with her.

She said that was why she wanted to go to the Pretoria High Court on 
Wednesday to set the record straight.

De Kock's lawyers, however, suspect that Wednesday's hearing may be 
postponed to sometime in 2008.

It is believed that while the matter appeared to have been settled with 
the publishers, De Kock was also demanding that his legal costs be paid.

o This article was originally published on page 5 of Cape Times on 
December 05, 2007



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