Barry Bateman
Communications Manager Private Prosecution Unit AfriForum
By Barry Bateman
Communications Manager Private Prosecution Unit AfriForum
As expected, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has declined to prosecute Fundile Gade, Eastern Cape Education MEC, with falsely identifying an innocent school principal of being a rape suspect.
On 5 November, the NPA informed the unit that it would not be pursuing the case.
The politician faces charges of crimen injuria, intimidation, and contravention the Cybercrimes Act after falsely claiming publicly that Jaco Pieterse, former principal of Bergview College in the Eastern Cape, was identified as a suspect in the rape of a minor.
Pieterse, a career teacher who the unit represents, was the target of a vicious and sustained smear campaign that violated his dignity, harmed his reputation, forced him and his family into hiding due to death threats, and ultimately cost him and his wife their jobs.
The campaign followed claims by a mother that her daughter was raped at the school in Matatiele, Eastern Cape, in October last year.
The SAPS never regarded Pieterse as a suspect.
Even though the case was investigated, and the NPA declined to prosecute in November last year because there was no evidence to support the allegation, a social media campaign eventually caught media attention in March this year and fuelled the flames of disinformation, primarily targeting Pieterse.
Amid the social media outrage, Gade made the decision to deregister the school and made the offensive remarks about Pieterse on 30 March during a live interview on Newzroom Africa.
In June this year, the unit supported Pieterse when he filed criminal complaints against Gade, EFF leader Julius Malema, and ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula.
The NPA has not confirmed their decision on the latter two cases.
The office of the Eastern Cape Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, which took the decision not to prosecute Gade, stated in correspondence that if the unit is dissatisfied with the decision, it may file a complaint with the National Director of Public Prosecutions.
In response, Advocate Gerrie Nel, head of the Private Prosecution Unit, stated that the unit will not take up the offer.
“Your advice to approach the Office of the NDPP if we are dissatisfied with your decision has been noted.
However, we view this decision as so irrational that we have advised our client to apply for a nolle prosequi certificate to prosecute the matter privately, once we have taken cognisance of the contents of the SAPS docket,” said Nel.
Nel said it appears that the prosecutor who made the decision has not watched Gade’s interview.
“We remain overwhelmingly confident that Mr Gade clearly and unambiguously referred to our client as a suspect in the rape of a minor a patently false public claim, as he was certainly not a suspect in such an alleged offence.
The irrationality of this decision is remarkable,” he said.
Barry Bateman, spokesperson for the unit, says since Pieterse filed the criminal complaints, additional information has emerged that strengthens the cases against Gade, Mbalula and Malema.
“In the months since Pieterse filed the criminal complaints, the police and justice ministries have told Parliament that the SAPS submitted a fully investigated case docket on 4 August 2025, and that the NPA declined to prosecute due to insufficient evidence.
“In several responses to questions from MPs, the authorities confirmed that when the mother reported the case to the police in October 2024, the child was taken through all the necessary processes at the Thuthuzela care centre and was seen by at least three social workers.
Importantly, the NPA has now confirmed that the child maintained that she was constipated, and not raped or sexually assaulted, and there was no evidence that the child had been penetrated.
In fact, the police never identified any person as a suspect because there was no evidence to support the claim that the child was raped.
AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit will send a strong message that there will be consequences for falsely accusing people of committing crimes,” said Bateman.
The unit is still studying the docket and will submit a formal application for a nolle prosequi certificate in due course.
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