Troon claims deal offered for apology

Former ANC councillor Lawrence Troon, who is being sued by Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Athol Trollip for defamation, claimed he was offered a deal in exchange for a public apology.

Troon, who this week asked the Grahamstown High Court to postpone the case to allow him more time to round up witnesses, said Trollip’s lawyers offered to withdraw the case if he apologised in The Herald and its sister publication Daily Dispatch.

Troon said he refused the deal and would defend his case.

“I said I would never, ever do such a thing. If I’d agreed to that, I would have failed those people of Bedford,” he said.

“The offer was not something I was even willing to consider.”

He is being sued for some R5million for allegedly producing statements, with former DA councillor Knight Mali, from several former Mount Prospect farm workers who claimed they were treated badly.

The farm, outside Bedford, was previously owned by generations of Trollips.

Yesterday, Trollip said he could not comment on off-the-record discussions between the legal teams.