Lobby group, AfriForum has called on Police Minister Senzo Mchunu to issue a public apology to the principal of Bergview College in the Eastern Cape.

AfriForum’s private prosecution unit, led by Advocate Gerrie Nel, is representing the principal who they say was wrongfully accused of being a suspect in the rape of a seven-year-old learner from the school.

The group accused Mchunu of making false allegations against the principal and not correcting information in the public sphere on details regarding the investigation into the rape.

AfriForum spokesperson, Barry Bateman says they’ll be assisting the principal with filing criminal charges for defamation against Mchunu.

“We issued a statement a week ago, on the Saturday saying that Mr Pieterse, which is fact, was never a suspect in the matter, he was never regarded as such and he had cooperated with the police entirely. The minister four hours later issued a statement saying the opposite. That in fact, Mr Pieterse was a suspect. He let that linger for the entire week as the entire country speculated on this fictitious claim that he was a suspect. It has destroyed the man’s life; it has damaged the schooling community and this could have been stopped if the minister had simply told the truth and set the record straight. But he didn’t and there must be consequences for that.”

Meanwhile, last week Mchunu said DNA sampling in the case of the seven-year-old Eastern Cape minor who was allegedly sexually abused at her school’s premises has been conducted.