Controversial private investigator Paul O’Sullivan’s urgent court bid to force investigative journalist and Unpopular Opinion podcast host Mzilikazi wa Afrika to delete social media posts and remove an interview with former Gauteng Hawks boss Major-General Prince Mokotedi has been struck off the roll by the Joburg High Court on Thursday 24 September.
O’Sullivan approached the court seeking an interdict against Mzilikazi wa Afrika over posts published on X and an episode of the Unpopular Opinion podcast featuring Mokotedi.
The interview contains allegations that O’Sullivan was a “double agent”.
In supplementary court papers seen by Africa Daily, Mzilikazi wa Afrika says O’Sullivan sought to stop him from publishing or retaining the posts and podcast interview.
The papers also challenge several statements made by O’Sullivan in his replying affidavit, including his claim that he had “never met or spoken to” certain people named in Mzilikazi wa Afrika’s answering affidavit.
Mzilikazi wa Afrika places before the court an email sent by O’Sullivan to Joe Xaba on 13 July 2023, which he says followed a meeting between the two at O’Sullivan’s residence.
He also refers to a sworn statement made by Rachell Smit to police in 1999, which allegedly placed O’Sullivan at her home during an alleged assault involving his then-wife, Odette O’Sullivan, and Smit’s son.
O’Sullivan has denied being “found guilty of domestic violence”. However, according to the supplementary affidavit, he told Parliament’s Ad Hoc Committee in February 2026 that he had paid a R500 admission-of-guilt fine in 1999 for an alleged assault, which he said resulted in a criminal record that was later expunged.
The affidavit further disputes O’Sullivan’s claim that he was unaware that the podcast had already been published when he contacted Mzilikazi wa Afrika on 23 August 2026.
Mzilikazi wa Afrika says the episode was published on 22 August and that journalist Kenneth Moeng Kgwadi had sent O’Sullivan a link to it that same day.
According to the affidavit, O’Sullivan responded: “I won’t watch these crooks” and said Mokotedi was “not even qualified to talk the rubbish he talks”.
Mzilikazi wa Afrika says Kgwadi forwarded those messages to him on 23 August.
The supplementary affidavit also disputes O’Sullivan’s denial that he had threatened anyone’s life, referring to a 1999 police statement and a 2020 media report in which then-Hawks spokesperson Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi allegedly said O’Sullivan had threatened to “put me in a body bag”.
O’Sullivan’s urgent application has now been struck off the roll, meaning the court did not grant the relief he sought in the urgent proceedings. It found that his application was not urgent.
