ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula will join EFF leader Julius Malema in facing crimen injuria charges brought by former school principal Jaco Pieterse.

The decision follows representations by AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit to the NPA, which initially declined to prosecute Mbalula over his remarks.

AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel said Mbalula will join Malema, who also faces prosecution for crimen injuria over remarks about Pieterse.

Kriel said the reason for prosecuting Malema was that he suggested Pieterse may have carried out similar offences in the past.

“The NPA confirmed in August that it had decided to prosecute Malema,” said Kriel.

“With the support of AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit, Pieterse laid criminal complaints against Mbalula, Malema and Eastern Cape Education MEC Fundile Gade.”

Mbalula calls principal an ‘animal’

On April 1, 2025, Mbalula addressed the media after an ANC meeting and spoke about the alleged rape of a child at Bergview College in Matatiele, Eastern Cape.

He criticised AfriForum for allegedly shielding suspects and referred to Pieterse as an ‘animal’, saying the organisation was defending an animal.

“When a person is sick and rapes a seven-year-old, it’s not a question of consciousness that you need to convert this person. It’s an animal,” Mbalula said.

At the time, the Private Prosecution Unit was representing Pieterse.

The case involves a child whose mother alleged that she was raped at Bergview College in October 2024.

Pieterse and the school’s caretaker, who is also represented by the unit, subsequently became the targets of a social media campaign after the NPA initially declined to prosecute anyone in the matter.

Adv Gerrie Nel, head of AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit, said the NPA confirmed in May 2025 that it had decided not to prosecute because there was ‘no evidence of rape or sexual assault’ after the child was interviewed and examined by medical practitioners and forensic social workers.

NPA reverses decision after representations

In representations to the NPA on August 13, Nel addressed Mbalula and the ANC’s argument that Mbalula’s remarks referred to GBV generally and were not directed at Pieterse.

Nel argued that Pieterse did not have to be expressly named for the comments to be understood as referring to him.

“The question is not merely whether his name was uttered, but whether the words, viewed in their full context and against the surrounding circumstances, were objectively understood to refer to him,” Nel said.

“The circumstances are particularly compelling given that he was publicly associated with the alleged rape of a seven-year-old child, despite the fact that he had never been a suspect and despite the subsequent confirmation of the NPA that there was no evidence that the child had been raped,” Nel said.

The NPA subsequently informed AfriForum that its representations had been successful and that Mbalula would be prosecuted for crimen injuria in the Johannesburg region.

Mbalula understands harm of false allegations, says spokesperson

AfriForum spokesperson Barry Bateman said Mbalula understood the harm caused by being falsely accused of a crime because he had previously approached the courts over allegations against him.

“Every time Mbalula has been publicly accused of involvement in the murder of Wandile Bozwana, he has turned to the courts to interdict his accusers,” Bateman said.

He referred to a judgment in which Mbalula argued that false accusations had caused ongoing harm to his reputation and dignity, resulting in anxiety, humiliation and embarrassment.

“He must realise that publicly branding a career teacher a child rapist and an animal, without a shred of evidence to support such a claim, fundamentally violates that teacher’s right to dignity,” Bateman said.

Nel said Mbalula and Malema would face separate matters in court.

Caxton Network News emailed ANC national spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri for comment, but none was received by the time of publishing.

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