Flood of public support for Pauw
way into the leaked classified information. It has also laid complaints against the author and a former employee.
Late yesterday, lawyer Willem de Klerk, representing Pauw and NB Publishers, confirmed there was still no clarity on the complaints, saying his clients were “very grateful” for the public’s support.
“We have made contact with the Hawks and sent correspondence to its head, and are waiting for a response about the nature of the charges. We are aware that people are offering their support and our clients are very grateful.”
The statement also said the nature of the complaints against Pauw had yet to be established. “We can assure the public that we stand by our book and our courageous author who exposed the apartheid-era Vlakplaas death squads and is one of South Africa’s most respected investigative journalists.
“We have given firm instructions to our attorney in this regard,” read the statement, adding that they had refused to retract certain parts of the book.
“Instead of investigating what Pauw’s explosive new book reveals about the agency… the SSA has chosen to ‘shoot the messenger’.
“We are grateful and heartened for the many offers from civil society groups and the support from the public.”
Former KZN Hawks boss MajorGeneral Johan Booysen yesterday said the book had shown that “the public would be the judge at the end”. This was ahead of Booysen and the former Cato Manor police unit appearing in the Durban High Court on 116 counts, including racketeering, murder and attempted murder.