Zimbabwe: Biti Faces Us$1m Defamation Lawsuit
TOP Harare businessman Ken Sharpe has dragged MDC Alliance vice president Tendai Biti to the High Court for demanding one million United States dollars as compensation for highly defamatory remarks he made recently.
Sharpe, in court papers seen by NewZimbabwe.com Monday, argues Biti made ‘false claims’ against him when he named him as as one of most corrupt people looting Zimbabwe’s resources.
The Forbes businessperson of the year 2021 nominee however strongly disputes the claims.
In High Court papers that amended their March 2021 lawsuit that were filed on August 26, 2021 by Sharpe’s firm Augur Investments, through their lawyers Scanlen and Holderness, the company said that Biti defamed the firm’s proprietor by making the baseless claims.
Sharpe is also suing the MDC Alliance party for pursuing a malicious agenda based on Biti’s tweets.
“On or about December 13, 2020 and again on December 23, 2020, the first defendant further published two other false, malicious and defamatory statements of and concerning the 1st and 3rd plaintiff in particular where he stated the following: Glyn Cohen is amongst a coterie of elite looters that are bleeding Zimbabwe or have bled Zimbabwe aided and abated by Zanu PF patronage system. “
Sharpe claimed that in the December 12 tweet, Biti made baseless claims that cannot go unchallenged.
“This list include Hamish and Simon Rudland, Ian McMillan, Lawrence Sher, Van Hoogstraten, Ken Sharpe, Sam Levy estate and the food mafia,” Biti wrote in the tweet that is still on the microblogging site.
“The desperate actions of Kenneth Sharpe and Augur Investments will not erase the truth that they looted thousands of hectares of land from the city of Harare under the airport agreement land was transferred to Augur but it never performed. Government took over the project.”
Sharpe and his company rubbish the claims.
Sharpe also sued the MDC Alliance for publishing Biti’s “malicious and defamatory” statements that he said had caused damage to him and his firm as they were widely covered.
“On or about December 4, 2020, the MDC Alliance associated and made common purpose with the first defendant by publishing certain comments of and concerning first and third plaintiff.”
Biti is also embroiled in a legal battle with West Properties’ Tatiana Alishiana where he is being accused of assaulting her last year after a court appearance where the former Harare East lawmaker is representing a client involved in a dispute with Augur lnvestments.
By New Zimbabwe.
