8.

Ad paragraph 10
The contents herein are denied, and Defendant avers.
8.1

Defendant disputes that the Plaintiff has suffered damages in
the amounts claimed or at all.

8.2

Defendant further states that the amount claimed by Plaintiff
is excessive.

8.3

Defendants deny that they are obliged to pay the Applicant
(sic) the amount claimed or any at all.” (emphasis added)

[19] It is patently obvious to me that while the Appellants denied that the context
of the article are wrongful and defamatory of the Respondent, they however
failed to deny the allegation that the words in the context of the article
“were intended and were understood by the readers of the newspaper to
mean that Plaintiff was an imposter who had usurped the chieftaincy of
Kontshingila when she is not entitled to so act by virtue of the fact that
she is not a Simelane.”

[20] The legal position in these circumstances, is that the Appellants are bound
by their plea and must be taken to have admitted this portion of the
Respondent’s pleading. This derogates the necessity of leading any further
evidence in proof of it.

[21] Adumbrating on this trite principle of law in my decision in The Swaziland
Government v Aaron Ngomane (Supra) paragraphs [27] and [32]
(Ramodibedi CJ and Maphalala JA concurring) I stated as follows:“[27] Since this issue turns on the general principle that parties are bound
by their pleadings, it is important that we detail the functions of
pleadings in this regard which are two dimensional. This is to

13

Select target paragraph3