Media24 paid out a multi-million-rand compensation for the pain and suffering caused by the
false allegations contained in the book ‘’The Lost Boys of Bird Island’’.
Unfortunately, there are those who reason that Du Plessis is now a rich man. He is not.
Of the settlement amount Du Plessis had, to date, paid more than R3 million on legal and other
related fees, including medical treatment for ailments caused by the tremendous stress and
emotional harm suffered as a direct result of the trauma he went through and is still enduring
because of the publication of the fraudulent and widely advertised book – in the genre of non-fiction.
Further legal, medical and other related costs will still need to be covered and paid for, which
in the end will not be fully covered by the payment Media24 made. This saga and the stigma attached
to it will forever be hanging as a millstone around the legacy of an otherwise unblemished legacies
of Barend du Plessis as well as that of the late Gen. Magnus Malan and Mr John Wiley.