North-West premier Popo Molefe has vehemently denied child molestation allegations of a pre-teen relative levelled against him by his ex-wife in a Mail & Guardian article.
To protect the girl’s identity the Mail & Guardian Online cannot disclose how she is related to the premier.
At a press conference in Johannesburg on Saturday morning Molefe said press reports on Friday and Saturday had been the culmination of a long-standing campaign against him by his former wife Boitulemo.
“The report in the Mail & Guardian on March 14, 2003… is the culmination of a long campaign by Boitulemo Molefe to blackmail me… to get a more favourable financial settlement in our recent divorce,” Molefe said.
He said the accusations were part of his former wife’s “unstable history of making false allegations”.
The allegations surfaced more than a year ago when divorce proceedings between the couple were instituted. The divorce became final in February this year after a settlement was reached.
Molefe said his former wife initially claimed under oath that he had forced her and the pre-teen relative to leave the house and demanded the right to return.
As evidence that Molefe did not molest the child, he asked why would Boitulemo “…demand the right to return a 10-year-old child to an alleged child molester”.
As further evidence that he did not molest the child, Molefe said his former wife had granted him greater access than he had asked for to the child.
During the divorce settlement he asked to see the child one weekend a month. His former wife agreed to alternate weekends.
Molefe said he had been advised to have the child’s visits to him initially monitored by a psychologist “so that no further false claims could be made”.
The child has not yet visited him, but Molefe said he saw her as often as was possible.
“I regularly visit her at school.”
The child abuse complaint was investigated by the North-West police, but the provincial Public Prosecutor chose not to prosecute due to a lack of evidence.
Newspapers report on Saturday that the case might be re-opened on the strength of new information and evidence.
Molefe said that he would welcome it if the case was re-opened.
“I will welcome the due process of the law to prove my innocence once and for all.”
Reacting to claims that the child had told a therapist at the Teddy Bear Clinic in Johannesburg that she has been raped, Molefe said that the report was false.
He said that he had arranged for the child to be examined by the Teddy Bear Clinic when allegations that she had been molested first surfaced.
“She was clearly brainwashed before the examination,” he said.
According to the report, when the child was asked why she was at the clinic, she had immediately responded that she was there to talk about what had happened to her and what Molefe had done to her.
Molefe said in the second paragraph of the report the therapist said that it seemed that the child had seemed under “tremendous pressure to say certain things”.
He added that the Teddy Bear clinic had been unwilling to sign the report.
“I will only believe the contents once it has been tested in court.”
The premier said he was worried about the damage done to the child from “being brainwashed” to say that she had been raped.
“She will probably be damaged for life by being brainwashed constantly and that is something that the people who are concerned about a child’s welfare should look into as well.”
He would take legal advice about possible action against his former wife if the allegations continued, but the best interest of his child will always be the most important, he said.
Molefe said he was saddened and traumatised by the allegations against him. ‒ Sapa
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