Sacked Sunday Times columnist David Bullard has apologised
"unreservedly" to Jacob Zuma for two articles which were at the root of
a R6-million lawsuit instituted by the ANC president, according to a report on iol.co.za.
In a statement on Thursday, Zuma's spokesperson on the matter, Liesl Gattert, said the pair met at the ruling party president's Forest Town home on Wednesday where the apology was extended by Bullard and also "unreservedly" accepted by Zuma .
The two articles Zuma found offensive were Bullard's "Out to Lunch" columns published in the Sunday Times in April and May 2006 – and were at the root of a R6-million damages claim against Bullard and the paper.
Zuma has now decided to withdraw the two injuria claims he instituted against Bullard and his co-defendants, relating to the two articles.
The columns were titled "Stupidity a mitigating circumstance for Zuma" and "Visit the Zuma website to see what was meant".
In the pieces, dealing with the Zuma's 2006 rape trial, Bullard calls Zuma "stupid" and "dishonest".
According to reports, the controversial columnist wrote that Zuma could offer stupidity in mitigation of his alleged crime.
It said that it would not be surprising given Zuma's "lack of education and rural background", if they were to hear that he had "rubbed his entire body with the fat of a recently slaughtered Nguni bull as protection against sexual disease, bullets, legal action and adverse media comment".
Click here to read the full report, posted on the Sunday Times website.
