Former City Press photo editor Denvor De Wee is at odds with his lawyer over whether he entered into a settlement agreement with Media24 and former City Press editor Ferial Haffajee in his racism defamation court case. The dispute between Media24, Haffajee and four former staffers – who alleged she defamed them by calling them racists – was headed for court last week before Media24’s attorney Andrew Boerner said the case had been settled, which was confirmed by the staffers’ attorney Etienne van der Merwe, notes a BDlive report.

However, De Wee claims he did not sign a settlement agreement and instead withdrew from the case as he refused to be paid to go away.

Yesterday he said he was ‘considering taking steps to clarify’ the dispute with his lawyer.

The report quotes the Law Society of SA’s ethics committee chairperson, Krish Govender as noting there was often a ‘grey area’, especially when it came to settlement agreements where there were genuine misunderstandings or when a general mandate had been given, and a dispute arose about the specifics. He said it would be rare to find an attorney take a chance and settle outside of a client’s mandate ‘because they know that the consequences can be quite serious’.

Full BDlive report