Wednesday, March 13, 2013

To Sue and Get Sued

So it has been finally confirmed over the past few days that the Chief Director in the office of the DDG responsible for "fisheries operations support" (why this post is even needed is beyond comprehension), Sue Middleton, is suing the Minister of Fisheries (aka Tantrum Tina) for R1 million. 

Ms Middleton's claim stems from the fact that during 2012 she was suspended by Tantrum Tina while serving as the umpteenth DDG and after having just authorised the urgent commencement of an industry-led demersal research survey which would involve Smit Amandla crew. Of course, as we know, Tantrum Tina simply hates Smit Amandla and she would have none of it. So, Tantrum Tina suspended the acting DDG. 

After 6 months of being on paid suspension, Ms Middleton returned to her post as no charges were put to her but the Minister was reported in various media as stating that Middleton was found guilty of financial misconduct, which of course was not the case! Hence the defamation suite filed by Middleton.  It would appear as a slam-dunk case for Middleton as the Minister's reported statements are not only false but clearly wrongful and damaging to Middleton's reputation.

And on 7 March 2013, the office of the state attorney threatened Feike that it is "taking instructions" from the Fisheries DDG, Ms Apelgren-Nakardien, apparently because of "defamatory" comments we made about the woeful DDG. The pointless communication from the State Attorney was sent to Feike on the same day we had demanded an apology from Apelgren-Nakardien for her defamatory statements made before an entire room of media (which she denies making of course!). We have of course repeatedly invited the DDG to identify the defamatory, false or wrongful statements made on this BLOG or in any other media. But of course she cant.

Feike is preparing to file a summons against Ms Apelgren-Nakardien for defamation in due course. The question is will she still be the DDG by the time we get to file the summons? 

No comments:

Post a Comment