Tivan Leak, managing editor of Die Matie, Stellenbosch University (SU) student paper, has filed a case against editor-in-chief of Die Matie, Ingrid Heydenrych, at the SU student court.
According to Leak a letter he received from Heydenrych suspending him from writing news articles for Die Matie for the duration of three editions (six weeks), is an infringement on his rights under section 14 of the student constitution.
Leak argues he was disciplined unfairly as he did not have a hearing or means for appeal. Counsel for Heydenrych, SU law student Frederik van Dyk, said the letter is valid and within her rights as editor-in-chief of the student newspaper.
The dispute arose three weeks ago when Leak and Heydenrych could not agree on which language (English or Afrikaans) to publish a particular article by Leak. When he refused to send her the material he had authored, the letter (entitled waarskuwings- en tugtigingsbrief) was sent to him via email. Leak now moves to have the letter set aside.
Today’s edition of Die Matie. Leak was not permitted to write articles in this edition. PHOTO: Wilhelm Schumann
At the hearing in Ou Hoofgebou this afternoon Van Dyk argued that the motion brought before court was “vague and embarrassing” as the dispute was an internal and customary matter, and did not deserve the attention of student court.
Leak’s defence, final year SU law student Francois Henning, argued that the suspension imposed upon him by Heydenrych was procedurally unfair, as the audi alteram partem (listen to the other side) rule was not followed. He also said he has a right to administrative justice according to the student constitution.
In response to questions from court, Leak said that he has a function of writing articles for Die Matie, and had this function even before he became managing editor at the paper. “All of us write articles, even Miss Heydenrych writes articles, even though it is not in the code of conduct of Die Matie,” Leak said.
Leak also claimed that Heydenrych misled the court by saying she would not be able to attend a hearing scheduled for last Thursday. Leak claimed that Heydenrych attended a class test around 15:00 that afternoon, and therefore could have been at the hearing on Thursday. He said the delay affected him negatively. Van Dyk did not address this allegation in his rebuttal.
Leak argued that the suspension imposed upon him was procedurally unfair. PHOTO: Ané van Zyl
On behalf of Heydenrych, Van Dyk argued that Leak cannot claim to have the right to publish articles in the paper, as that right is not explicitly given to him by the code of conduct of Die Matie. He also said the code of conduct is “unorthodox” and “unusually incomplete”. According to Van Dyk, no person who works at Die Matie can claim to have more functions than what is contained in the code of conduct.
Leak also argued he was treated unfairly when Heydenrych typed up the letter to the rest of the main-editorial team which contained what was according to Leak factually incorrect information. “This affects my reputation,” he said.
Heydenrych’s defence said the letter she sent to Leak forms part of an internal and customary matter and should not be before court. PHOTO: Ané van Zyl
The case was heard by student court chairperson Sandiso Sogula, Khuliso Managa (vice-chairperson), Carmin Jansen van Vuuren (secretary) and John Goetsch (legal literacy). Andrea Pekeur, head of student court media and web communications, excused herself from proceedings. Sogula said her reasons for withdrawal will be clearly stated in the judgement.
Sogula said court will convene on Friday to discuss the matter before it, and a draft judgement will be made available by this coming Monday. A full judgement will follow soon after.
Section 14 of the student constitution which Leak claims protects him.
– Ané van Zyl