BBC HIV rape documentary ‘fake’

THE BBC reporter who made a documentary in which a man is shown claiming to have raped and infected dozens of women with HIV has gone to ground as it emerged that the story was false and as police close in on him.

Two cases have been opened at Diepsloot police station against Golden Mtika for allegedly paying residents to make false and incriminating claims on the documentary aired by the BBC last week.

The video of the interview with the alleged HIV-positive rapist, David Kaise, has gone viral.

Another person in the video, identified as Portia, claimed Kaise was her former lover who had also raped her and that she was now HIV-positive.

But when Cape Times sister newspaper The Star spoke to her on Monday at Diepsloot police station, where she had gone to lay a charge of defamation of character against Mtika, the woman, whose real name is Ndivhuwo Ramaphalala, revealed it had all been a lie.

The Star has established that the people in the video were paid to make the claims.

Kaise claimed he was not HIV-positive and was not a rapist. He was allegedly paid R350 and told what to say by the journalist, who has since gone to ground.

Kaise left many South African viewers shocked with his claims on the air of raping more than 24 women, being HIV-positive and wanting to spread the disease so that he didn’t die alone.

Ramaphalala, a drama enthusiast, said Mtika duped her into making claims about the rape in September last year, and she was paid R200 to “act” in what was supposed to be a movie to be aired overseas.

She added that Mtika had promised to buy clothes and other necessities for her 11-year-old if she “performed” in the film. The 27-year-old woman revealed that everything she said in the video was scripted, and her life was now ruined because of it.

“My friend showed me the video last Tuesday, and now every time I go out in the streets, people ask me about it, and my boyfriend dumped me.

“People look at me like I’m dirt. My life is just a mess.”

The BBC has denied the alleged cooking up of stories.

“There was no scripting of interviews; all interviewees provided accounts with full consent,” said Marina Forsythe, publicist of the BBC World Service.