The Johannesburg high court yesterday dismissed an urgent application with costs by Cell C against a banner critical of service at one of its retail outlets.

The banner was erected by a customer on the busy Beyers Naude Drive in Randburg last week. The carries a Cell C logo and large words: “The most useless service provider in SA – Cell C Sandton City”. It also gave the name and phone number of an employee it says provided poor service.

Cell C has issued a statement expressing its disappointment with the judgment handed down by Judge Weiner.

“The judge did not address our primary reason for taking this matter to court, namely the protection of the personal information and privacy of our employee, Riaan van Rooyen,” it states.

“As a result of the banner being erected, Riaan has been harassed and verbally abused. People should reasonably ask what they would expect their companies to do if they were subject to this kind of harassment and abuse simply as a result of them doing their job.

“With the increased focus and awareness of the protection of personal information it is surprising that the publication of Riaan’s personal information was not addressed in the judgment. The undertaking made by Mr Prokas not to re-publish this personal information was only given to the court during argument yesterday, and as a result of the urgent application having been brought by Cell C.

“The judgment also has far reaching consequences for any business in South Africa. From the large business to the corner shop, businesses now face the risk of having their reputations tarnished by an individual who can make defamatory statements, as long as this is expressed as an opinion of personal experience with only cursory and, in our view, selectively chosen factual foundations.

“The judgment also suggests that businesses should urgently apply to court for an interdict as soon as somebody merely threatens them with the publication of unfounded defamatory statements. This is impractical.

“Reports in some media about Mr Prokas’ claim that he was billed for somebody else’s use of his cellphone are incorrect. The underlying fact is that Mr Prokas owes Cell C for services rendered and these will be pursued in a
separate legal process. Despite Mr Prokas’ negative comments on his banner he continues to use our services.

“Cell C is of the view that on the face of it, the judgment contains fundamental errors that have wide reaching implications. Irrespective of the specific issues in this particular matter, these errors need to be rectified and so Cell C is considering appealing the decision.

“Mr Prokas had several alternative channels at his disposal and it is most unfortunate that he chose to deal with the matter in this way. Cell C has been at the forefront of lowering the cost to communicate for millions of South
Africans irrespective of the network that they use. We are proud of these achievements and that is why we take customer service very seriously and we never like to hear that we might have fallen short in this regard. Where necessary, corrective measures will always be implemented.

“We will continue to work tirelessly to bring affordable and quality service to our customers.”