Book claiming apartheid paedophile ring withdrawn

The controversial book The Lost Boys of Bird Island, in which claims of paedophilia are made against apartheid-era Ministers, has been withdrawn by its publishers, says a News24 report. According to the book – co-written by Chris Steyn and Mark Minnie, who took his own life in August 2018 – three former National Party Ministers, including strongman Magnus Malan and John Wiley, are named as central figures in a paedophilia ring that operated during apartheid. Malan and Wiley are both dead. The third former Minister was not named in the book, but former Finance Minister Barend du Plessis publicly stated that he believed he was being implicated. Tafelberg, a subsidiary of NB Publishers, said in a statement that it had withdrawn unsold copies of both the Afrikaans and English editions from bookshops, and that the e-book had been removed from online e-trade platforms. It noted that statements are made in the book which ‘may suggest that Mr Barend du Plessis, though not mentioned by name, might have been involved in the sexual abuse of underaged boys’. It adds: ‘While attempts were made to conceal his identity, NB Publishers accepts that the book contains sufficient information to identify Mr Du Plessis as an involved party. The contested statements could not be verified independently. NB Publishers unreservedly apologises for the publication of these allegations to the extent that they implicate Mr Du Plessis, and for the attendant infringement of his dignity and impairment of his reputation, as well as the emotional distress this caused him and his family. This apology is limited to Mr Du Plessis and does not extend to any other person identified in the book as having played a role in the events portrayed in the book. NB Publishers shall defend any attempt at discrediting the book and its contents in the appropriate forum.’

Du Plessis' legal representatives, Johan Victor Attorneys, described the book as a ‘web of lies’. It added that Du Plessis had hired a private investigator who found a ‘lack of proper and substantive research by the authors and the publisher’, notes News24. ‘The inescapable fact, is that 24 years since the first reports, featuring the same sleazy allegations, appeared in some of Media24's most prominent publications, and 32 years since the alleged acts would have occurred, there has been no evidence whatsoever from any of many investigations, that implicates any of the Ministers in the despicable crimes alleged in the book,’ the statement read.