Gareth Cliff won his court case against M-Net and joined the show’s producers and his fellow judges for dinner on Tuesday while presenter ProVerb shared a picture of the happy moment on his instagram page.
Six days after Gareth Cliff was victorious in a massive case of breach of contract and defamation against M-Net, the judging panel of season 12 of Idols South Africa seems unaffected by the controversy.
On Friday Judge Caroline Nicholls ruled that Cliff be reinstated as a judge on the popular singing competition with immediate effect, saying it was a contractual dispute and that M-Net had to pay costs.
Season 12 of Idols SA kicked off in Durban last weekend.
Gareth Cliff wins R25M lawsuit against M-Net
Axed Idols judge Gareth Cliff won a mammoth lawsuit against M-Net on Friday, hours before the first auditions for the show were due to start.
The celebrity won his bid to be reinstated as a judge of the popular talent scouting show, Judge Caroline Nicholls ruled in the High Court in Johannesburg.
Cliff, dressed smartly in a dark suit, smiled as the ruling, which lasted four minutes, was read out.
Earlier this week, the court heard an urgent court application by him to be reinstated as a judge on the reality singing competition. Cliff was booted from the M-Net show after he commented on KwaZulu-Natal realtor Penny Sparrow’s Facebook post in which she called black people monkeys.
Cliff tweeted: “People really don’t understand free speech at all”, creating consternation on social media and prompting M-Net to sack him, saying it did not want to be associated with a racist.
On Tuesday, however, his lawyer Dali Mpofu argued that his axing was the worst form of racism, while M-Net’s Wim Trengove tried to convince the court that the broadcaster never had a contract with Cliff.