Justicia Shipena
The High Court has ordered Northcote Private School and its former board chairperson, Benedict Mulife, to each pay N$10 000 in damages after finding that they defamed each other.
The judgement was delivered on Monday by High Court judge David Munsu in a defamation case that arose from disputes at the Ondangwa-based private school in mid-2022.
Northcote Private School filed the lawsuit in May 2023, accusing Mulife of damaging its reputation through false allegations contained in a petition and through claims allegedly shared with the media and on WhatsApp.
Mulife denied the allegations and filed a counterclaim, arguing that the school’s management also defamed him.
In its claim, the school told the court that Mulife authored and circulated a petition accusing the school of lacking leadership capacity, unfairly dismissing 13 teachers, and refusing to pay staff members who joined a labour union.
The school further alleged that Mulife shared the petition with radio stations, newspapers and on social media, causing reputational and financial harm.
Mulife denied writing the petition on his own and said it was drafted collectively by parents. He also denied giving information to the media or creating a WhatsApp group to attack the school.
After hearing evidence over several sittings between 2024 and 2025, the court found that the school failed to prove most of its claims.
Munsu ruled that the school did not prove that Mulife single-handedly authored the petition or that he published it to the media.
“Outside court the truth may be obvious, but in court, the truth must be demonstrated. A litigant must be able to show that the alleged event happened, how it happened, when it happened, and lawfully link it to the person being accused,” he said.
The court also found that handing the petition to the school manager did not amount to publication, as required in defamation law.
“The handing of the petition to the plaintiff’s manager does not satisfy the requirement of publication, as no other person, other than the plaintiff, became aware of the alleged defamatory statement,” the court ruled.
However, the court ruled that Mulife did defame the school by repeatedly stating that the school had dismissed 13 teachers, despite evidence showing that only the principal was dismissed and that two other teachers’ contracts ended due to the non-renewal of work permits.
“The defendant’s persistence in asserting that the plaintiff dismissed thirteen teachers… had the effect of tarnishing the plaintiff’s good name and reputation in society,” Munsu said.
At the same time, the court found that Northcote also defamed Mulife.
Munsu ruled that the school’s director wrongfully published a letter of demand on the school’s WhatsApp group accusing Mulife of writing the petition alone and supplying damaging information to the media.
“I equally find that the plaintiff defamed the defendant when the plaintiff’s director went on the plaintiff’s WhatsApp group and published a letter of demand accusing the defendant of single-handedly writing the petition,” Munsu said.
The court further found that claims made during a parents’ meeting that Mulife deliberately avoided meetings were false and harmed his reputation.
Caption
The High Court has ruled that Northcote Private School and its former board chairperson, Benedict Mulife, defamed each other during a dispute linked to events at the Ondangwa-based school in 2022.
- Photo: Contributed
