IN THE HIGH COURT OF MALAWI

 PRINCIPAL REGISTRY

 CIVIL CAUSE NO 201 OF 1995

 BETWEEN

NORSE  INTERNATIONAL  LIMITED..................FIRST  PLAINTIFF

 AND

R.E. FRANZEL      SECOND  PLAINTIFF

 AND

CITY  OF  BLANTYRE    DEFENDANT

 
CORAM: MWAUNGULU, J
Mbendera, for the plaintiffs
Nyirenda, for the defendant
Kamanga, the Official Interpreter
Magwira, the Recording Officer

Mwaungulu, J.


 ORDER

A formal judgment will be delivered in due course.  In this matter there will be judgment for the plaintiff.  The words uttered by the defendant were defamatory of the company and the first plaintiff. The defences raised by the defendant are untenable. In particular there has not been substantial justification of the defamatory statement. The occasion was not privileged, so the question of qualified privilege does not arise.  Even if it applied, the statements went beyond the occasion.  There will be judgment for the plaintiffs with costs. The first plaintiff is awarded K150,000.00.  The second plaintiff is awarded K100,000.00.

 
Made in open Court this 28th day of September, 1998.
 
 
 

 
D.F. Mwaungulu
JUDGE