COMMERCIAL lawyer and Innscor board chairman Addington
Bexley Chinake has demanded that Twitter pulls down offending tweets by Temba
Mliswa and ban the controversial Norton MP’s handle or face litigation.
Chinake’s demands came after Mliswa posted a series of
threats on the micro-blogging site, accusing the Innscor boss of being a
“blue-eyed coconut of the whites” who acts to others detriment as an example of
“white and Asian cartels fronted by indigenous player”.
Mliswa also accused Chinake of being a homosexual, claiming
he was abandoned by his wife because of his intimate relationships with other men.
But in a letter dated February 18 to Twitter, Chinake’s
United Kingdom-based lawyer, Hill Dickinson said Mliswa’s tweets contained
racial slurs and perpetuated a racist trope of a black African who has
personally benefited from the disenfranchisement and exploitation of other
black people.
“We are certain that you will agree that, on the basis of
the examples set out above, it is clear that pursuant to its own terms of
service, Twitter must remove the offending tweets and ban the handle
@TembaMliswa. Failing to do so will only facilitate the further spread of
hateful and illegal content,” Dickinson’s letter read.
“Given the potential for these tweets to lead to violence,
we consider that this is an issue of the utmost urgency and action should be
taken immediately.”
Dickinson added: “In the event that you fail to act in
accordance with your own terms and the laws of the relevant jurisdictions, our
client reserves his rights against you as publisher and host of the tweets
complained of.”
On February 17, Mliswa ran a thread, accusing Innscor of
racist practices. The motormouth MP was angry with Innscor co-founders Mike
Fowler and Zinona Koudounaris, accusing them of racism.
This was after Mliswa took a number of employees of Breckridge
Investments for a meeting with Fowler and Zweli Lunga, the Innscor legal
adviser. He wanted them to answer to racism and verbal abuse issues perpetrated
by senior management.
Breckridge is a gold mining company operating as Pickstone
Mine in Chegutu. According to Mliswa, Lunga protected the whites in that
meeting while Fowler remained unapologetic. Newsday
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