Police Minister Senzo Mchunu has admitted that he wrongly identified the Principal of Bergview College in Matatiele as a suspect in the rape of a 7-year-old -girl.

According to News24, Mchunu wrote a letter to the head of Afriforum’s Private Prosecution unit, Gerrie Nel, saying he is prepared to apologise to Principal Jaco Pieterse.

The rape, which allegedly occured in October last year, sparked angry protests around the country earlier this year, with calls for the principal’s arrest, after Mchunu identified him in a 29 March Media Statement as one of three suspects.

But Mchunu has only now admitted that he was wrong, although he says that he did not do so out of malice.

Part of the letter reads:

“I have human and personal empathy for your client and any other person who might have been wrongly fingered as a suspect in circumstances where he or they were only persons of interest. 

I categorically state that I never at any stage had an intention to defame your client nor any other person for that matter.”

“As the Minister of Police, I take responsibility for the statement in question. I would like to assure you that it was issued in good faith and there was no malicious intent whatsoever. 

“I authorised the issuing of the statement on the basis of information I had received and I had no reason not to believe in the truthfulness of the information that was placed before me. It later emerged that this information was inaccurate, a matter that will be addressed internally by the National Commissioner of Police.”

Mchunu’s letter to Nel comes after SAPS spokesperson, Brigadier Athlenda Mathe, told Radio 702 on 7 April, that the “principal was never identified as a person of interest in this particular case. From the statements that were taken, the principal was nowhere near that school in the three of four days that we are concentrating on.”

She further articulated that there was no basis to request a buccal sample from Pieterse.

Afriforum’s Kallie Kriel says they will not let the matter rest there.

He says now that the Minister of Police has apologised and confirmed that the school principal was never a suspect, individuals, including the ANC’s secretary general Fikile Mbalula, who accused Afriforum of protecting a rapist will feel legal repercussions:

“I want to thank Adv. Gerrie Nel and his team at AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit for their willingness to fight against the injustice committed by some politicians, media and social media warriors against Principal Jaco Pieterse and his family. They were willing to stand strong and do what is right in the face of an orchestrated smear campaign against Pieterse and AfriForum.” 

Nel says the police’s failure to set the record straight in a timely manner has caused untold harm to the principal and the school’s community:

“The police have a Constitutional duty to prevent, combat and investigate crime. It also must maintain public order and protect the public. The SAPS and the Police Ministry have failed at both these duties. This failure and the contributing disinformation campaign by at least the Minister of Police has turned an innocent man’s life upside down and exposed him to an ordeal of undeserved life-threatening exposure. Bergview College, its staff, the learners and their parents became collateral damage in an entirely avoidable, smear campaign. Our endeavours to ensure that there are consequences for those who, for political gain, make defamatory remarks with the intention to defame an innocent person will not wane.” 

MEDIA STATEMENT: Police Minister, Senzo Mchunu, owes Bergview College Principal and the public an apology – Minister will face criminal consequences

For a week, Police Minister, Senzo Mchunu, sat idle as false and defamatory statements, made worse by his own false claims made in…

— Barry Bateman (@barrybateman) April 9, 2025