The biographer of the Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer was eviscerated by a South African court today in a savage judgement dismissing a libel action against a local newspaper.

Ronald Suresh Roberts, who is also writing an authorised biography of President Thabo Mbeki, sued the Johannesburg Sunday Times for, among other things, describing him in a headline as "unlikeable".

Mr Justice Leslie Weincove described Roberts among other things as "venomous", "vindictive", "haughty" and "grandiose"- a person who was engaged in name-dropping and had acted improperly in his professional capacity.

He said the newspaper had published the article "without negligence or fault sufficient to render it liable for damages for defamation" and awarded costs against Roberts.

The case had the country agog when it was heard at the end of last year, as Roberts and one of South Africa's leading barristers, Wim Trengove, tore into each other during cross-examination.

The article to which Roberts objected reported his dismissal by a local law firm over his relationship with the business organisation of the US singer Whitney Houston.

Roberts, an Oxford-educated lawyer, wrote what was originally the authorised biography of Ms Gordimer, who won the Nobel prize for literature in 1991. But the two fell out as the book, No Cold Kitchen, was completed.

It was disclosed during last year's trial that Roberts was also writing Mr Mbeki's authorised biography with the help of funding from the Afrikaner banking giant, ABSA.