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ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula will join EFF leader Julius Malema in facing criminal prosecution for falsely accusing an innocent school principal of rape. This is the second case where AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit has succeeded in convincing the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) that a politician should be prosecuted for crimen injuria after branding Jaco Pieterse, the former Bergview College principal, a child rapist. With the support of the unit, Pieterse laid criminal complaints against Mbalula, Malema, as well Eastern Cape Education MEC Fundile Gade. The NPA confirmed in August that the decision was made to prosecute Malema. 

On 1 April 2025, Mbalula was addressing the media following a party meeting, where he referred to the alleged rape of the Bergview child, adding that “even more disgraceful is the involvement of organisations like AfriForum, who shield suspects rather than standing for justice.” At the time, it was public knowledge that the Private Prosecution Unit represented Pieterse. Mbalula went further to describe Pieterse as an animal, and that AfriForum was defending an animal. 

The case involves a child whose mother alleges she was raped at the Bergview College in Matatiele, Eastern Cape, in October 2024. Pieterse and the school’s caretaker, whom the unit also represents, were the targets of a vicious social media campaign started in November that same year when the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) declined to prosecute the case due to a lack of evidence. In May last year, the NPA confirmed that it had decided not to prosecute anyone in connection with the alleged rape because, according to the NPA’s spokesperson, “there is no evidence of rape or sexual assault after the minor girl was interviewed and examined by medical practitioners and forensic social workers”.

In the representations to the NPA on 13 August 2026, Head of the unit, Advocate Gerrie Nel referred addressed Mbalula and the ANC’s public defence that his comments were about gender-based violence in general, and not in reference to Pieterse. “The fact that Mr Pieterse was not expressly named cannot, in the circumstances of this matter, be determinative. The question is not merely whether his name was uttered, but whether the words, viewed in their full context and against the surrounding circumstances, were objectively understood to refer to him. The evidence and surrounding circumstances must be considered in their totality. Every prosecutor must be alive of the value and strength of circumstantial evidence.

“Similarly, the fact that Mr Pieterse subjectively experienced an impairment of his dignity cannot simply be dismissed. The circumstances are particularly compelling given that he was publicly associated with the alleged rape of a seven-year-old child despite the fact that he had never been a suspect and despite the subsequent confirmation of the NPA that there was no evidence that the child had been raped,” said Nel. 

Barry Bateman, Spokesperson for the unit, says like Malema, Mbalula has also frequently turned to the courts when they have been allegedly falsely accused of having committed a crime. “Every time Fikile Mbalula has been publicly accused of involvement in the murder of Wandile Bozwana, he has turned to the courts to interdict his accusers. In a judgment last year, Mbalula argued that being falsely accused caused ongoing harm to his reputation and dignity, resulting in anxiety, humiliation and embarrassment. 

“Mbalula therefore fully understands the harm caused by falsely accusing someone of committing a crime. He must realise that publicly branding a career teacher a child rapist and an animal, without a shred of evidence to support such a claim, fundamentally violates that teacher’s right to dignity. AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit believes a criminal court will agree, convict him accordingly, and send a clear message that there are consequences for politicians who use their public platforms to spread lies with scant regard for the consequences,” said Bateman. 

Issued by AfriForum