Fireworks In Court As E.tv Is Accused Of Ulterior Motives

The legal team representing Malatsi first refused to present to the court in their allotted timeslot on Tuesday, arguing that they needed more time to prepare their arguments. This was disputed by its opponents in the case - e.tv, Media Monitoring Africa and the SOS Coalition - and questioned by the judge, who highlighted the urgency of the matter given that the court has less than 10 days to come to a decision.

Malatsi's legal team, led by Kennedy Tsatsawane, SC, was granted an extension until 10am on Wednesday to present its case. A second bone of contention arose after the minister's team presented a new affidavit on Tuesday evening, which immediately came under fire from e.tv's legal counsel, Gilbert Marcus, SC, and Media Monitoring Africa's legal counsel, Nick Ferreira, SC. Ferreira claimed that some of the most pertinent information provided in the affidavit was untrue.

"This late affidavit is inherently improbable. The final paragraph of the affidavit which tells this court that Sentech will be able to complete the installation of government-sponsored set-top boxes by the end of 2025, does not stand up to scrutiny," Ferreira told the court on Wednesday.

Ferreira explained that Sentech claims it will install 383 049 set-top boxes in the less than nine months left of the year, meaning 42 561 installations must occur monthly for that target to be reached. Sentech's historical data shows that it does not have such capacity.

Tsatsawane accused e.tv of flip-flopping, at first supporting an expedited analogue switch-off in a high court case between Telkom and communications regulator Icasa in 2021 and then switching its stance in a constitutional court case against former communications minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni in 2022.