{"id":26002,"date":"2022-07-26T14:41:01","date_gmt":"2022-07-26T14:41:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/smith-howard-denies-defamation"},"modified":"2022-07-26T14:56:49","modified_gmt":"2022-07-26T14:56:49","slug":"smith-howard-denies-defamation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/smith-howard-denies-defamation","title":{"rendered":"Smith-Howard denies defamation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>Expelled Independent Patriot for Change party member and former chairperson of the Erongo Regional Council Ciske Smith-Howard has denied defaming fellow councillor Sifried Junios \/\/Garo\u00ebb.<\/p>\n

Smith-Howard is being sued for N$350 000 for remarks she made in a televised interview in October 2021, which \/\/Garo\u00ebb claims are defamatory as they are untrue.<\/p>\n

In her plea, Smith-Howard said her remarks were based on the charges of bribery, fraud and theft of public property and monies that \/\/Garo\u00ebb was facing at the time he was employed at Henties Bay Municipality as an assistant credit controller.<\/p>\n

Ashe said \/\/Garo\u00ebb resigned before he could be cleared of the allegations.<\/p>\n

Thus, \u201cthe statement is and constitutes political utterances, which, in an open and democratic society, with entrenched constitutional rights to freedom of speech and expression in political debate and political activity, cannot be regarded as defamatory of the plaintiff (\/\/Garo\u00ebb),\u201d said Smith-Howard.<\/p>\n

On Namibian Sun\u2019s Evening Review, Smith-Howard, without mentioning \/\/Garo\u00ebb\u2019s name, said: \u201c\u2026The IPC Councillor in Henties Bay\u2026 who had seemingly stolen from his council\u2026 while he was an employee of the municipality and they then relieved him of his duties in 2018 after investigations found that he was guilty\u2026 I strongly feel that we cannot make a thief the head of the institution from which he stole\u201d.<\/p>\n

According to her, the remarks do not give an impression that \/\/Garo\u00ebb was a convicted criminal or dismissed by the Henties Bay Municipal Council.<\/p>\n

So, the onus is on \/\/Garo\u00ebb to prove that her remarks about him were defamatory \u2013 and once the court rules in his favour, she would not have a problem tendering an apology on Facebook.<\/p>\n

\/\/Garo\u00ebb, who is also an IPC member, claims Smith-Howard\u2019s claims were false, irresponsible, defamatory, unlawful and wrongful and has damaged his reputation, as he is now viewed as a convicted criminal who was dismissed as an employee.<\/p>\n

He claims he has no criminal record and was never dismissed from his employment.<\/p>\n

According to him, Smith-Howard deliberately intended to damage his reputation and create the impression that he is a dishonest person who cannot be trusted.<\/p>\n

The case has been referred for mediation on 3 August.<\/p>\n

\/\/Garo\u00ebb is also suing Henties Bay mayor Lewies Vermaak for N$200 000 for defamation.<\/p>\n

Vermaak reportedly told The Namibian newspaper that \/\/Garo\u00ebb was facing a criminal trial in a Windhoek court for housebreaking.<\/p>\n

In the article published on 5 November 2021, Vermaak is quoted by the newspaper as saying: \u201cI found out this week he was also involved in a housebreaking incident, and there is a High Court case; the housebreaking case is still ongoing\u2026 That is where we draw the line and said I cannot work with IPC anymore if they cannot remove this guy from the council. I am sorry; I cannot put my party at risk\u201d.<\/p>\n

He claims the statement is defamatory and false, as he is not facing any criminal case.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Namibia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. Expelled Independent Patriot for Change party member and former chairperson of the Erongo Regional Council Ciske Smith-Howard has denied defaming fellow councillor Sifried Junios \/\/Garo\u00ebb. Smith-Howard is being sued for N$350 000 for remarks she made in a televised interview in October 2021, which \/\/Garo\u00ebb claims are defamatory as they are untrue. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":26001,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,12,16],"tags":[234,236,233],"class_list":["post-26002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-policy","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-namibia","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"\nSmith-Howard denies defamation - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Expelled Independent Patriot for Change party member and former chairperson of the Erongo Regional Council Ciske Smith-H ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/smith-howard-denies-defamation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Smith-Howard denies defamation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Expelled Independent Patriot for Change party member and former chairperson of the Erongo Regional Council Ciske Smith-H ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/smith-howard-denies-defamation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-07-26T14:41:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-07-26T14:56:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/07\/postQueueImg_3-62e0009928bde.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"507\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"475\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/smith-howard-denies-defamation#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/smith-howard-denies-defamation\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Smith-Howard denies defamation\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-07-26T14:41:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-07-26T14:56:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/smith-howard-denies-defamation\"},\"wordCount\":504,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/smith-howard-denies-defamation#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/07\/postQueueImg_3-62e0009928bde.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"africa press\",\"Africa Press-Namibia\",\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/smith-howard-denies-defamation#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/smith-howard-denies-defamation\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/smith-howard-denies-defamation\",\"name\":\"Smith-Howard denies defamation - 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