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The Bloemfontein high court on Thursday declared that statements and posts made by Patricia Morgan-Mashale were defamatory, unlawful, false and intended to injure and violate the National Director of Public Prosecutions’ (NDPP) right to dignity.
In terms of the court order by judge Nokuthula Daniso, Morgan-Mashale was further interdicted from posting, spreading, publishing or making known to the public in whatever form, any comment and/or information on any social media platforms and/or newspapers.
“In addition, she is ordered to immediately permanently delete the original Facebook publications made and to publish a formal apology to the NDPP, affected NPA prosecutors and officials on her Facebook page within seven days of the granting of this order,” National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said.
He said the formal apology must remain on Morgan-Mashale’s Facebook page for 60 days. She was also ordered to pay the costs of the application.
Morgan-Mashale is a whistleblower and former employee of the SAPS in the Free State.
“This follows an application launched in 2025 by the National Director of Public Prosecutions against Ms Morgan-Mashale in response to her publication of false and misleading statements of the director of public prosecutions: Free State Division and officials within that office, accusing them of being corrupt for making various payments which she described as bribes relating to a particular case that the office was seized with,” Kganyago said.
These defamatory statements were posted on her Facebook account in 2025 on various dates.
“At all material times, she was requested to provide proof of her allegations, to the extent that the NPA’s Office for Ethics and Accountability allocated an investigator to consider all the evidence she claimed to possess in support of her allegations.
“However, she has never been able to provide such proof, yet she continues to impugn the dignity and reputation of the prosecutors with wild allegations.”
Kganyago said the legal affairs division in the NPA, through the State Attorney, issued her with a cease-and-desist letter calling upon her to refrain from making spurious allegations against the DPP and prosecutors. Morgan-Mashele ignored this letter, and that paved the way for the application heard on Thursday.
The NPA said it was vindicated by the judgment given the personal and reputational damage to the DPP, the NDPP, prosecutors, as well as the NPA as an organisation within the criminal justice system.
“In as much as we appreciate the right to freedom of expression, that right carries with it a responsibility to respect the rights of other human beings to dignity and not have such rights violated unjustly,” NDPP advocate Andy Mothibi said.
Kganyago said the NPA’s communication unit will monitor Morgan- Mashale’s social media pages to ensure that the court order is complied with.
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