The second fake news campaign was run by a magazine called NoseWeek.
Noseweek was tasked by Booysen to discredit the Sunday Times reporting on the Cato Manor unit, including all whistleblowers and witnesses that come forward to speak up about what they had witnessed. As always, I was never given a right of reply or interviewed for such articles published by Noseweek and the content of their articles regarding myself were fake news.
Here are the fake news articles regarding my character:
issue 167 dated 1 September 2013
issue 173 dated March 2014
Issue 191 dated 1 September 2015
Paul Kirk, a local discredited Journalist with very low morals, was tasked by Martin Welz to write the articles about me. However, Kirk was a known friend of some of the Cato Manor members and had been found in a civil matter by a judge to have lied under oath and fabricated evidence.
I deny all allegations within Kirk’s articles. Furthermore, when I complained to the press Ombudsmen in South Africa, Martin Welz run away from the council to avoided liability.
Here is the relevant correspondence.
I was unable to escalate this to a legal battle at the time because I was focusing on my newborn, my dad was struggling with cancer, I was rebuilding my career and I was corresponding with the South African authorities in order to assist with the case against the Cato Manor unit. Suddenly I felt threatened again as I was warned that my life and the life of my family was in danger once more in Greece. It was all too much for myself and my loved ones, as we were in constant danger and had to move four times to different locations.
In 2020 I called Martin Welz and introduced myself, asking him if he was willing to retract and apologize to me and my wife for the fake news he published once I provided evidence in support of my claims. He agreed and committed to do so as well as publish a new story reflecting the true facts about me. He further engaged in discussions withSocial worker John Clarke in South Africa.
Martin further agreed after providing him documents, videos, and photos that he would apologise and retract. In further telephone conversations with me that are recorded and can be made available, Martin admitted that I was right and that he had done wrong by me. However he did not honour his promise and neither retracted nor apologized to me in public. Since I was forced to go into exile and escape with my life, there was only one way to silence me: character assassination via fake news media. Unfortunately, in South Africa, fake news, unethical journalists as well as a captured media is still a sad reality, with a few noticeable exceptions. The power of the pen control’s public opinion and even worse, it influences the judiciary in South Africa.
Regrettably, Noseweek went bankrupt after an unrelated defamation case was successfully brought against Noseweek in South Africa. As a result, I haven’t heard from Welz again. I sincerely hope that he will still do the right thing and make a public statement, retracting and apologising for the lies he published about me that caused pain and harm to me and my family.
General Booysen and his cronies had the means to coordinate a massive media attack on my character, from October 2012 to recent times, with his lobby group of supporters, that he had won over since the Apartheid times.It was a textbook scenario of character assassination by fake news, facilitated via compromised and unethical journalists. They could not physically silence me because I was a whistleblower in exile and in hiding at the time.
After all, Booysen had a dodgy career in the South African police force “special units”, going back to the Apartheid times. What is shocking is the fact that in 1993 the late Frank Dutton, a highly respected investigator, was tasked to investigate human rights violations by the Apartheid security forces for the Goldstone Commission. In his findings he referred to Johan Booysen and Willie Olivier as the two police officers that in 1992 were directly involved with the unjustified killing and cover up of yet another African suspect.
Reference :
Historical Papers ( Page 29 of 146 )
pdf
History has a strange way of repeating itself, so I was surprised as to how those racist police officers were allowed to continue and serve, after having committed gross human rights violations in South Africa during Apartheid and over a decade later, they were repeating the same or worse acts against Africans.
During my initial engagements with the NPA in 2012, I was told of the significance of my testimony, as well as the national importance of rooting out racist elements with nostalgia for the old Apartheid ways from the security forces including the SAPS. I was promised protection if I issued a statement in advance. I refused to do so prior to obtaining witness protection, as I was very much aware of the risks my family and I faced.
The officials returned to South Africa with draft notes and evidence I had provided them in order to assist with their initial investigation against the Cato manor unit and Booysen. I was surprised that they had focused on racketeering charges instead of charging them individually on human rights violations, extra judicial killings and torture based on my solid evidence. Our agreement was that in SA, they would apply for a Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) in Greece and that they would immediately place me and family in witness protection when the MLA was processed. I had refused to return to SA to testify because I was aware of the organised crime connections the Cato Manor members had at their disposal and I was not safe there. We agreed that if I testify in court, it would be via video testimony from the UK.
I found out later via a published article that in August 2012 the NPA had proceeded without my consent to submitting a statement in court not signed by me and disclosing my name as a key whistleblower in their case to charge Booysen with racketeering! This is the reference publication.
In fact it was only in 2016 that I signed my statement and it was only in 2018 that it was translated by a South Africa court translator.