THE court battle over leaked documents between the SABC and the Sunday Times was compared by Judge Nigel Willis to the exposure of a high-profile extra-marital affair, writes Judy Lelliot in The Times.
Judge Willis of the South Gauteng High Court said: “Let’s say a prominent individual ? wrote an unfortunate love letter ? and someone gets hold of that letter and photocopies it and a newspaper uses the copy of the letter.
“The individual will be embarrassed and the individual has various remedies if the newspaper wants to publish  can the individual ask for the copy?â€ÂÂ
The document the SABC wants returned formed the basis for a March front page lead revealing “mass corruption and gross mismanagement†at the public broadcaster.
Advocate PJ van Blerk for SABC argued that the Sunday Times’s possession of the documents was a continued illegality and an “invasion of privacyâ€ÂÂ.
Advocate Wim Trengove for the Sunday Times argued that the return of the report would expose the newspaper’s source, who felt in considerable danger and that a “witch-hunt†to expose the source was under way.
Click here to read the full report, posted on timeslive.co.za.