The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has said that if a docket with evidence linking former apartheid-era government ministers to a child sex ring is brought to them‚ they could prosecute the case.
"There is no statute of limitations on rape cases‚ so if there is evidence‚ including evidence from witnesses‚ and the case is prosecutable‚ then we will prosecute‚" NPA spokesman Luvuyo Mfaka said.
On Sunday excerpts of a book‚ The Lost Boys of Bird Island‚ were published‚ alleging that members of former president PW Botha's cabinet‚ including former defence minister Magnus Malan and former environmental affairs minister John Wiley‚ were involved in child sex orgies‚ along with former police reservist and businessman Dave Allen.
Malan died in 2011‚ while Wiley and Allen died in the 1980s after allegedly committing suicide.
The new book alleges that the crimes took place on Bird Island‚ close to Port Elizabeth‚ during the 1980s.
Teenage boys were allegedly flown to the island by defence force helicopters on instruction of those behind the "paedophile sex ring". The boys were allegedly taken to the island under the guise of fishing expeditions.
The book alleges that at least one minister‚ who it claims was involved in the orgies‚ is still alive - although it does not name him.