'Terrorblanche used my son's photograph'

18 September 2011 - 03:06 By WERNER SWART and ISAAC MAHLANGU
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This is the Facebook picture that has sparked a police investigation. The police are asking members of the public who can identify the man in this picture - which may have been manipulated - to come forward to assist them in their investigation. We have obscured the child's face to protect his identity, but child advocacy groups are concerned about the youngster's well being
This is the Facebook picture that has sparked a police investigation. The police are asking members of the public who can identify the man in this picture - which may have been manipulated - to come forward to assist them in their investigation. We have obscured the child's face to protect his identity, but child advocacy groups are concerned about the youngster's well being

The family of the man in a picture that shocked the world have called on police to find the Facebook user "Eugene Terrorblanche".

The Sunday Times can reveal that the man in the picture, holding a rifle while kneeling over the "lifeless" body of a young child is North West farmer and diamond prospector AC Strauss.

Strauss, via his lawyer, refused a request for an interview, but his father, Braam Strauss, told the Sunday Times: "I want the police to find this man who wrote those racist things and used my son's picture, and send him to jail."

Strauss said the photograph, taken on his son's cellphone, was a "joke".

According to his legal representative, Advocate Louis Vertue, AC Strauss has given a statement to Hawks investigators in which he said he now regrets having the picture taken.

Police have established the child in the picture, now 11 years old, is alive and well. Children's rights experts said that the picture violated the Children's Act, which makes it illegal to subject a child to behaviour that may harm him or her psychologically or emotionally.

Vertue said his client had told the police:

  •  He was not a member of any right-wing group;
  •  He was computer illiterate and had no idea who "Terrorblanche" was; and
  •  He would cooperate with police.

Braam Strauss said he was "proud to say we are not racists".

He said: "I have many workers and many black friends. They were all extremely angry that my son is being portrayed as a racist ... they know the truth."

"Terrorblanche" was the name adopted by a Facebook user who posted the photograph and other racist material on his profile. He listed his interests as guns, knives and cage fighting, and repeatedly warned he was ready to wage war against black rule. He shut down his profile the day after the Sunday Times exposed it and the Hawks announced it would investigate.

Hawks spokesman Colonel McIntosh Polela on Friday said their investigators had gathered documents from the initial investigation into the photograph.

"We are awaiting a decision from [investigators] handling the matter. We will be able to speak once a decision on a way forward has been taken," he said.

In Bloemhof and Schweizer-Reneke, both small farming towns in North West where the Strauss family is known, most people seemed unaware of the image that triggered the controversy.

The few who knew about it were reluctant to express their views.

An elderly woman at a local church said she was shocked by the photograph.

"I don't think we need this kind of thing in this day and age," she said.

A shopkeeper at a butchery in Schweizer-Reneke described AC as a "nice person who likes joking around".

"I don't know anything about the picture, but he's not a person who would do such a thing, it could have been just a joke," she said.

Another woman, who said she had known the Strauss family for years, said AC was "kind of a loner".

"He does his own thing and is not a loudmouth or troublemaker. They are good people, this whole episode is just so unfortunate," she said.

Vertue said his client wanted to put the episode behind him.

"He was warned of his rights before making his statement, and he did so because he wanted the truth to come out," said Vertue.

Vertue said he was present when police took statements from the parents of the young child, who still live on the same farm with the Strauss family.

Through a translator, they said they were not put under pressure to make any statement and did so out of their free will, calling the incident a "joke".

Asked whether the family was sorry about the picture , Braam Strauss said: "The wrong impression was sent out into the world. AC's life has been ruined because of this. How can he ever show his face overseas again?"

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