{"id":862453,"date":"2026-06-07T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=862453"},"modified":"2026-06-05T14:04:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T12:04:15","slug":"high-court-warning-to-homeowners-in-estates-who-use-whatsapp-groups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/telecommunications\/862453\/high-court-warning-to-homeowners-in-estates-who-use-whatsapp-groups\/","title":{"rendered":"High Court warning to homeowners in estates who use WhatsApp groups"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South African homeowners and residents in estates are being warned that comments made on WhatsApp groups can have serious legal consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This comes after a recent High Court ruling involving a homeowners\u2019 association in Ballito, KwaZulu-Natal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the feedback from Marina Constas, director at BBM Attorneys, who explained<\/a> that it stemmed from a dispute involving a homewoner whose unit suffered significant water ingress following heavy rains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Constas, the resident became increasingly frustrated with the homeowners\u2019 association and its directors, eventually launching what she described as a campaign against them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe started forming a campaign against the directors\u2019 association in Ballito and the homeowners association itself, certain owners in the association,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dispute ultimately ended up before the High Court after the association\u2019s directors sought an interdict against the man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Constas said the purpose of the application was to stop him from \u201cpublishing or uttering any false and defamatory statements\u201d on platforms including Facebook and WhatsApp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The court found in favour of the directors and granted the interdict. \u201cThe judge actually issued an interdict and found that the statements were defamatory,\u201d Constas said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She cited several examples of the comments that appeared on the Ballito estate\u2019s WhatsApp group for residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These included statements such as: \u201cMy aim is to prevent the looting on the estate of our hard-earned money,\u201d \u201cThey are a dishonest bunch,\u201d and \u201cThese guys are snakes, these crooks are cleaning us out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Constas said the ruling serves as an important reminder that messages shared in WhatsApp groups are not protected simply because they are sent in what users regard as a private forum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSaying things on a WhatsApp group, even if you publish one thing to one person, it can be held to be a defamatory statement,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The respondent argued that the comments were not defamatory and that the group was relatively private. However, the court disagreed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Far-reaching consequences<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Marina Constas, director at BBM Attorneys<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

She said the judgment should serve as a warning to homeowners who use estate WhatsApp groups to air grievances. \u201cThere’s a huge caution which needs to be given to owners on these groups,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Constas noted that the interdict prevented the respondent from continuing to make allegations relating to ethics, corruption and the management of the estate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, the court ordered him to pay attorney-and-client costs, one of the most punitive costs orders available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe judge awarded an attorney-client cost order against him, which would have been very heavy in the High Court, because of a sort of relentless campaign to malign directors and the association,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the ruling does not prevent residents from raising legitimate concerns about the management of their schemes, Constas said there is an important distinction between asking questions and making allegations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Constas, courts will assess whether a reasonable reader would take it that you are demeaning and undermining the integrity and that reputation of the person concerned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you’re imputing certain conduct to somebody, which a reasonable person would think, \u2018Oh, they think he’s a crook, or they think she’s a crook\u2019, then that could be defamatory,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The judgment also extended beyond the reputation of individual directors. Constas said the Judge found that the homeowners\u2019 association itself could rely on common-law protections against defamation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe directors could sue the respondent for defamation and the homeowners association could sue him for defamation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Constas, the court recognised that associations have the right to protect the reputation of the scheme and the actual association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This highlighted the potentially far-reaching consequences of defamatory comments made in estate WhatsApp groups.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South African homeowners and residents in estates are being warned that comments made on WhatsApp groups can have serious legal consequences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":862475,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[13133,853,2118],"class_list":["post-862453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-telecommunications","tag-bbm-attorneys","tag-south-africa","tag-whatsapp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=862453"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862453\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":862474,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862453\/revisions\/862474"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/862475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=862453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=862453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=862453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}