The charge of crimen injuria brought against EFF leader Julius Malema does not “faze” the party, it said on Wednesday, as it hit back at AfriForum for having a “white supremacist self-serving nature”.

AfriForum brought the case against Malema for accusing the former principal of Bergview College in Matatiele, Jaco Pieterse, of being a serial rapist.

Similar criminal complaints were also lodged against ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula, and Eastern Cape Education MEC Fundile Gade. Charges have also been brought against Mbalula in the matter.

The case involves a child who, according to allegations made by her mother, was raped at Bergview College in 2024 by either the school principal or the school caretaker.

The National Prosecutions Authority (NPA) declined to prosecute in that case, citing lack of evidence.

The EFF on Wednesday questioned why Pieterse declined to voluntarily provide his DNA as part of a police investigation.

“The school principal was the only one who refused to cooperate with the SAPS and instead, accepted the services of the white supremacist group, AfriForum who went on its usual mission to protect the 'rights' of a white man over the human rights of an African child,” the EFF said.

The party further stated that Malema’s comments on the case were made as a political leader and was not a legal pronouncement, but rather a political statement, at a political event, in defence of a child.

The party added that it was its political duty to fight for children, pointing to recent crime statistics which show that 3 258 cases of child sexual abuse in the first three quarters of the 2025/26 financial year, while statutory rape cases rose to 199, up from 127.

“AfriForum's relentless political prosecution against the president of the EFF has reached an unprecedented low in weaponising the justice system in a child rape investigation by unseeing the rights of a 7-year old African girl child for the 'rights' of an adult white man who is a school principal. This is precisely the pattern the EFF has highlighted as the white supremacist self-serving nature of AfriForum,” the EFF stated.

It added that it would not apologise for protecting children’s human rights, noting that the child’s family in this case would also pursue private prosecution.