AfriForum convinced of political interference after victim is threatened
23 March 2021
The civil rights organisation AfriForum says its suspicion that a suspected rapist is being politically protected was confirmed today during an incident at the district court in Somerset East in the Eastern Cape.
AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit, led by Adv. Gerrie Nel, represents the victim, Celeste Gouws, who was allegedly raped in her own house in 2017 after presumably being drugged. This follows after the Director of Public Prosecutions in the Eastern Cape refused to initiate prosecution against the suspect.
A group of people, some wearing ANC T-shirts, prevented the victim and AfriForum’s other witnesses from entering the court premises. The victim was also threatened and told that her days were numbered.
The police finally stepped in after members of AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit intervened.