AfriForum threatens legal action against govt officials who've implicated Bergview College principal in pupil's rape

JOHANNESBURG - Lobby group, AfriForum, has threatened legal action against senior government officials who have implicated the principal of the school where the rape of a seven-year-old pupil allegedly occurred.

The right-wing organisation has written a letter to the provincial police commissioner seeking their intervention, claiming that the SAPS had failed to investigate the rape.

AfriForum said this had the impact of further tarnishing the name of the principal, who has refused to provide his DNA sample to officials amid investigations.

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The lobby group said it had addressed a minimum of three letters to the station commander of the SAPS in Matatiele but received no response.

AfriForum said the silence and the lack of clarity in the investigation created fertile ground for the claims that the principal was a suspect and may be guilty.

The organisation said it may pursue opening cases of criminal defamation against those who had identified the headmaster as a suspect, rapist and even commented on his imminent arrest.

Among these are ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula, Police Minister Senzo Mchunu and Eastern Cape Education MEC Fundile Gade.

AfriForum spokesperson, Barry Bateman: "He cannot be a suspect because on the assessment of the objective facts, demonstrate that he was nowhere near the location where the rape took place."

The organisation claims that the minor failed to identify the principal as a suspect.

Thus, it argued that the only inference that could be made is that the SAPS correctly excluded the principal as a suspect.