OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 10.00am
THE Mail & Guardian has agreed to settle the defamation claim of KwaZulu-Natal Attorney General Tim McNally for an article published in 1995.
The newspaper said on Tuesday it will pay McNally R50000, but the settlement involves no concession, retraction or apology on its part.
The article appeared in the M&G on August 4 1995, headlined: ”Case against the prosecution”. An introductory paragraph inserted in the article, claiming that McNally had ”wilfully” avoided uncovering hit squads in KwaZulu-Natal, did not reflect the contents of the story, the M&G said in a statement.
”We stand by the substance of our story. This was that McNally had failed to vigorously prosecute senior hit-squad suspects in the province and that the system of criminal justice was severely compromised as a result,” the newspaper said.