NPA GRANTED INTERDICT AND APOLOGY ORDER AGAINST PATRICIA MORGAN-MASHALE IN DEFAMATION CASE

The Free State Division of the High Court, Bloemfontein granted the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) an order against Ms Patricia Morgan-Mashale in a defamation case heard today, 18 June 2026.

In his order, Judge N.S. Daniso declared the statements or posts made by Ms Morgan-Mashale to be defamatory, unlawful, false, intended to injure and violate the NDPP’s right to dignity. In terms of the court order, she is 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 (7) days of the granting of this order. The formal apology must remain on her Facebook page for a period of 60 (sixty days) and she has been ordered to pay the costs of the application.

This follows an application launched in 2025 by the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) against Ms Morgan-Mashale in response to her publication of false and misleading statements of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP): 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.

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 (OEA) 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.

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 our prosecutors. Ms Morgan-Mashele ignored this letter and that paved the way for the application heard today.

The NPA is vindicated by the judgment given the personal and reputational damage to the DPP, the NDPP, our prosecutors as well as the NPA as an organisation within the criminal justice system.

The NDPP, Adv Andy Mothibi says “In as much as we appreciate the right to freedom of expression but that right carries with it a responsibility to respect the rights of other human beings to dignity and not have such rights violated unjustly. We will not hesitate to use every legally permissible avenue to protect our prosecutors who are committed to the pursuit of the rule of law and proper administration of justice”.

Our Communication Unit will monitor Ms Morgan- Mashale’s social media pages to ensure that the court order is complied with.

Enquires:

Kaizer Kganyago

NPA National Spokesperson