Cabinet paedophile ring exposed

AS FORMER high-ranking National Party officials deny any knowledge of the existence of a paedophile ring involving cabinet ministers in the late 1980s, authors of a shocking exposé are willing to bring out more information in court if challenged.

Chilling accounts of the alleged sexual abuse of coloured teenagers by apartheid ministers, including former SA Defence Force head Magnus Malan, are recorded in the book, The Lost Boys of Bird Island, released this week.

Co-author and investigative journalist Chris Steyn said she had noted the reaction of the family members of the ring in the media, but none threatened to take legal action against them.

“I would welcome court action as it would give us the opportunity to put more information before the court,” she said.

Steyn and former policeman Mark Minnie launched investigations independently of each other into the sexual abuse of teenage boys on Bird Island in Port Elizabeth, allegedly by high-ranking members of former president PW Botha’s cabinet.

They included Malan, former environmental affairs’ John Wiley and former police reservist and businessman Dave Allen.

Wiley and Allen were believed to have committed suicide in the 1980s and Malan died in 2011.

Minnie said he had no idea what PW Botha knew of the behaviour of certain of his ministers, but he had always suspected official complicity in a cover-up.

“One of the aims of this book is to bring this knowledge to the attention of the public,” he said.

Wiley’s son Mark, DA chief whip in the Western Cape legislature, refused to comment on the allegations about his father in the book.

“I have not read the book. I do not read fiction. I have no comment to make,” he said.

The book claims teenage boys were flown by defence force helicopters to Bird Island, where sex orgies with members of the ring would take place.

One minister, who the authors have not named, was apparently still alive.

Steyn said her investigation was sparked by a tip-off after the deaths of Wiley and Allen.

“The discovery that Dave had been arrested for alleged sex acts with minors led to further investigation. I worked on the story for about six weeks in 1987, briefly in 2006, and on-and-off two years.

“I really did not think about the danger… I still don’t. If they kill me, it will be a good death and will make others more determined to dig,” Steyn said.

Minnie said while he knew how Allen picked his victims, he never confronted those involved and was advised by his brigadier to keep things close to his chest until he had sufficient evidence to bring the matter to light. over the past