by Mark Minnie
In June 2017, Acting Judge Clare Hartfort in the South Gauteng High Court declared the prescription regarding sexual assault offences in the Criminal Procedure Act unconstitutional. The judge stated that ‘the law must encourage the prosecution of these nefarious offences, which are a cancer in South African society, and must support victims in coming forward, no matter how late in the day’.
That means that the twenty-year time limit on reporting sexual offence cases will have to be scrapped, and that both children and adults will be allowed to lay charges at any time after offences occur. The ruling must first be approved by the Constitutional Court, and then the National Assembly has eighteen months to change the Criminal Procedures Act.
Following the ruling, Michiel Jacobsz, the media and advocacy liaison for Women and Men Against Child Abuse / Kidz Clinics issued a press statement saying that the ‘Frankel 8’ had successfully struck ‘a massive blow’ to sex offenders. Jacobsz noted: ‘It may take decades for survivors to be in an emotionally strong enough position to confront their abusers, who, in cases of late disclosure, have more often than not until now not been held accountable in a criminal court for their heinous crimes.’
MARK
29
Here and now
All I ever wanted to be was a cop. But I was denied this because of the Allen/Wiley investigation and where it took my life.
When I walked away from the police force I became a registered informer. I operated an escort agency that ultimately served as a front for the cops. With my permission, they bugged the phone lines of the business in an effort to gain leads and information with regard to criminal activities, but eventually I shut up shop. I had had enough.
Upon leaving South Africa in 2007, I found it necessary to hit the academic books again at the ripe age of 47. In 2011, I acquired certification for teaching English to speakers of other languages (CELTA) through Cambridge University, London. In the same year, I successfully achieved status as a certified English examiner (IELTS). I worked for the British Council and Cambridge University as an English examiner for a period of five years in China. I then swopped over to the teaching profession, lecturing at various universities throughout southern China and specialising in the art of academic writing. It was my job to prepare university students for written examinations.
Working on the Allen/Wiley investigation altered my view of the world. I could never fathom the reason why adults would willingly harm young children in such a vicious manner. What those men did to those children has haunted me for over 30 years. The children caught in this net had simply disappeared. Justice never served them.
I hope this book will honour their lives.
I often wonder about the boy who was secretly treated in hospital. Did he survive, and if so is he still alive? I hope so. I also hope that if there is anyone out there who has any knowledge of him or any of these missing boys, the Lost Boys of Bird Island, that they will come forward.
Any victims who suffered at the hands of Dave Allen and company, let your voices be heard. Do not remain silent any longer.
To members of the previous tricameral parliament who spoke in whispers about young boys who were lured to Bird Island under the pretext of becoming divers, but instead failed to return home and were never heard of again, please come forward.
I would like to continue this mission and I would like to take up the fight together with others. Great states like America, England and Australia have swept similar crimes committed by government officials under the carpet. Let us make sure this does not happen in South Africa by listening to these victims of heinous crimes perpetrated by people in high office.
To the Lost Boys, I am sorry. I am sorry that you were failed by society and the system. We can never be forgiven. Nor can we allow these adults, these men who abuse children, to carry on living without fear of being found out, caught and convicted. We must never give up.
Endnotes
1William Hart is a pseudonym. A number of pseudonyms are used in this book to protect the identity of victims and sources.
2Barron erroneously referred in his report to “19 generals” charged with Malan. Malan’s co-accused were seven Zulus, a SAP brigadier and eleven officers of the SADF, amongst them five generals.
3Based on legal advice, Tafelberg has decided not to identify the third minister.
Summary
It is the late 1980s. Serious allegations surface against three prominent National Party cabinet ministers, one of them the second-most powerful man in the land. They are, it is said, regularly abusing young boys on an island just off the coast of Port Elizabeth.
From opposite ends of South Africa, a brave cop and a driven journalist investigate. Mark Minnie and Chris Steyn independently uncover evidence of a dark secret. But the case only surfaces briefly before it disappears completely.
Thirty years later, the two finally connect the dots to expose this shocking story of criminality, cover-ups and official complicity in the rape and possible murder of children, most of them vulnerable and black.
About the authors
Chris Steyn (left) and Mark Minnie.
MARK MINNIE is a former cop who worked as a Narcotics Bureau officer for the South African Police during the 1980s. He left South Africa for England in 2007, and acquired a CELTA qualification for teaching English as a foreign language through Cambridge University in London. Shortly thereafter he began working as an English examiner for Cambridge University and the British Council in China. He is currently employed as an English teacher at a university in Guangzhou, China. Watching sport with expats, especially games involving South African teams, is his favourite pastime in a country far from home.
CHRIS STEYN is a writer and former journalist. Over the years she has worked for the Rand Daily Mail, The Star and the Cape Times. In 1986 she went into exile to avoid imprisonment for refusing to testify against a source. When she returned to South Africa, she was arrested and tried for protesting against an apartheid government proclamation that drastically curtailed press freedom. Chris later became editor of the investigative unit of the Independent Newspapers group. She is the proud co-owner of a bookshop in the seaside village she now calls home.
Tafelberg,
an imprint of NB Publishers,
a division of Media24 Boeke (Pty) Ltd,
40 Heerengracht, Cape Town 8001
www.tafelberg.com
Text © Mark Minnie and Chris Steyn
Cover images © Photo of Bird Island: Alan Straton
helicopter: Shutterstock
All rights reserved.
No part of this electronic book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying and recording, or by any other information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher.
E-book design: Wouter Reinders
Available in print:
First edition in 2018
ISBN: 978-0-624-08143-2
Epub edition:
First edition in 2018
ISBN: 978-0-624-08144-9 (epub)
Mobi edition:
First edition in 2018
ISBN: 978-0-624-08145-6 (mobi)
Web pdf edition:
First edition in 2018
ISBN: 978-0-624-08613-0 (web pdf)
Table of Contents
Title page
Dedication
Foreword by Marianne Thamm: Secrets, lies and cover-ups
MARK 1 The call
2 The interview
3 The day before
4 The interview continued
5 Wounded boy
6 Running out of time
7 Mr Ears
8 Lucky break
9 Looking for Wingnut
10 The beacon
11 Arresting Uncle Dave
CHRIS 12 Two suspect suicides
MARK 13 The senior public prosecutor
14 Fateful Tuesday
CHRIS 15 Squashed
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MARK 16 A boy called William Hart
17 In search of bigger fish
18 William’s day
19 Suzie’s story
20 The case of the missing docket
CHRIS 21 On the minster’s trail
MARK 22 South Africa burning
23 Big mistake
24 The call
25 Out in the cold
26 Life as a civilian
27 The end of the beginning
CHRIS 28 Untouchables
MARK 29 Here and now
Endnotes
About the book Summary
About the authors
Imprint page
