Greg Vogt and Magda Moos have presented a golden opportunity that will undoubtedly make others angry and uncomfortable.

By laying 4 charges against me, Mike Hampton, they have presented an opportunity for me to get much of what is wrong in Knysna on record. It will be interesting when the likes of MEC Alan Winde, Municipal Manager Lauren Waring, DA Chair Peter Myers, ANC Chief Whip Stephen de Vries, Tourism Vice-Chair Nan Raturat and many more are eventually called to the witness stand in the Knysna Magistrate’s Court.

Greg Vogt’s Protection from Harassment Case Against Me

This is different to the crimen injuria charges he’s also laid against me. We appeared before Magistrate Goosen this past Wednesday, July 6 2014.  Vogt’s affidavit essentially includes the following:

• I’m damaging his family.
• I’m damaging Knysna.
• That he’s been falsely accused of a cover-up at Knysna Tourism.
• That he’s been falsely accused of receiving illegal, R20 000 p/m payments from Knysna Tourism.
• That i’ve jeopardised his job at Knysna Tourism.
• That he was not at the centre of the elephant abuse scandal.

Greg Vogt

I’m confident that i can defeat all those claims. “Jeopardising his current position” – that requires clarification here i.e. of course i want him removed as CEO of Knysna Tourism but his claim is out of context because those who hired him must have been aware of all the damaging facts i’ve presented.

It is laughable that Vogt stated that he has “tried to meet and reason” with me.

Magistrate Goosen then gave us the option of setting a court date if we were representing ourselves or appearing before him again to present our lawyers before setting the court date.

Vogt stated that he would defend himself. At the moment, i was sorely tempted to do the same, thinking that one-on-one would be the best way to show Knysna where the facts, and us as people, stand. But ego is not as good a defence as a lawyer so i said that i would ask for assistance and, failing that, i would apply for Legal Aid.

Vogt, the man with the new mega salary, then replied that he would apply for Legal Aid. That was ludricous as “Legal Aid South Africa has a mandate from the South African Constitution to help the poor get tax-funded legal assistance.” To qualify:

• “If you are employed, you must earn less than R5,500.00 per month after tax has been taken off.”
• “We will only give legal aid to households that earn less than R6,000.00 per month. “
• “If you do not own a house, then the total value of all your belongings (for example, your car, furniture, clothes and other personal things) must not be worth more than R100,000.”

Even i who easily qualify worry that i, for some reason, won’t be accepted. Or, worse, that i will get a bad lawyer. It also suggests that rumours that Vogt is in financial trouble may be true.

I particularly find his latest defence, which is to repeatedly hide behind his family, distasteful. He seems to do everything in his power to remind us that he should not be entrusted with the Knysna brand.

Greg Vogt’s Interdict Against Me Fails

I was unaware of this until Vogt queried this request. Vogt was after what would be more commonly known as a gagging order. He wanted the court to rule that i be banned from blogging about him until the court case was concluded (which would be many months). Magistrate Goosen explain that Chief Magistrate Van der Merve had reviewed and declined it. Vogt tried to pursue it but soon discovered that arguments after the fact are pointless.

If i’m intimidated by the Court, then Vogt should be too. Like Vogt, i don’t like not being in control of my life. In Court, for better or for worse, your fate is decided by the magistrate in charge. That can sometimes be a sour pill to swallow (as i experienced with the man who tried to kill me).

Magda Moos’ Protection from Harassment Case Against Me

Magdalena Roselto Moos has done the same as Greg i.e. applying for a protection order and laying a crimen injuria charge against me.

The difference here is that i don’t have the same ill feelings towards Moos as i do towards Greg Vogt. Magda has chosen to be political without understanding the gravity of what she’s getting into. I don’t forgive her for lying and either cowardly or selfishly choosing the side of the her big DA boss, Alan Winde. I will pursue her with passion but she and i have known one another pleasantly in the past so we have, thankfully, been polite to one another the two times we’ve been in court building about this.

Her claims are that i:

• Publicly humiliated her in Main Street and took her photo without her permission.
• Accused her of fraudulently raising funds.
• That my blogs have damaged her business and threatened donations she receives from Britain and Germany.
• I’ve traumatised her adult daughter.

In this case, she claims to have a witness to her version of events. In the criminal case, she claims two. This makes no sense as there were only two people nearby, both ANC politicians, who were in their own conversation so unlikely to have heard ours.

I can’t counter the damage to donations without her providing poof of such but it would seem unlikely. I do, however, question the many organisations she joins as an active member as it would be unlikely that she could fulfill those roles effectively. Only access to the minutes of those organisations meetings will determine her value. Until then, networking as a priority must be considered as a possible reason for her memberships.

The claim of “traumatising” her 26-year old daughter with my blogs is as despicable as Vogt’s. To the best of my knowledge, i haven’t met her daughter and, if i did, i wouldn’t recognise her. I have certainly never mentioned her. The use of family sympathy as a court weapon instead of standing up for oneself (when it is about oneself) must be poorly viewed.

Either all of this is a waste of part of my life, a distraction away from work, or, if they have the will to proceed with the cases, it may be a golden legal opportunity to get some of the biggest liars in Knysna (and beyond) onto the stand to shed light into some of our darkest corners. Before we find out whose right or wrong, we may find out whose real or fake.