More details about the secret double life of Missing Children SA founder Pieter Boshoff are emerging as others close to him come forward.
The children’s rights activist, who boasted of his close relationship with celebrities and local politicians, committed suicide a month ago by falling backwards off the balcony railing of the fourth-floor apartment he rented.
A 17-year-old matric pupil spoke to Weekend Argus about his confusing friendship with Boshoff while working with him on a website during the World Cup.
The teen, who lives on the West Coast, said he knew Boshoff as “Riaan”, and they had met online.
“He promised me R10 000 to work with him on the Global Icons website at the Cape Town International Convention Centre during the World Cup.”
Boshoff, 38, introduced the teenager to his friends as his nephew.
“It was a bit confusing in that I knew him as Riaan, but his friends all called him Pieter.”
A friend said Boshoff’s second name was Adriaan and his family called him “Riaan”.
The teenager said he stayed at the Bloubergstrand apartment with Boshoff during the month he was working on the website. That was when he discovered Boshoff had a “split personality”.
“When he was Pieter he was a good friend and a father figure, but when he turned into Riaan, he would tell me he loves me and wants to be with me. I told him I didn’t see him that way.”
Boshoff once flew into a jealous rage when the teenager went clubbing with a friend. “He SMSed me and told me to be back in five minutes. When I got back, he freaked out. His eyes were popping out – I was so scared.”
Boshoff also downloaded naked pictures of the teen from his laptop.
“A friend took pictures of me in the shower. I stored them on my laptop and never thought Pieter would go into it because they were private.”
He told Weekend Argus that on one occasion Boshoff organised a masseur to come to the apartment.
“The guy got undressed to his underwear and started massaging me. He then started to fool around while Pieter was sitting there watching us. I said I needed to go to the bathroom.”
When he got back he said the masseur was doing crystal meth.
“I told Pieter I was leaving and started to pack my bags, but he asked the guy to leave.”
He said he last heard from Boshoff on the day of the suicide.
“I’d turned 18 the day before and he sent me an SMS wishing me happy birthday. Before I had a chance to reply, I got a call to say he had jumped.”
A close friend of Boshoff’s, who has known him for nearly 20 years and who has also been left with debt thanks to dodgy business deals Boshoff tried to get him involved in, said the last year had been like something out of a bad Hollywood movie.
The man, who asked to remain anonymous to protect his family, said he always suspected Boshoff was gay, but never realised he was addicted to teen porn.
“I used to tell him to come out (as gay), but his name and image were very important to him.”
He said that on one occasion when Boshoff was staying at his house he discovered he had downloaded porn to his host’s computer.
“My computer got a virus soon afterwards and when I sent it in to the shop they called to ask why I had porn with teenage boys on it. I worked out that it was over the dates that Pieter had been visiting.”
He said he felt he’d been used now that all the allegations of Boshoff’s secret life had emerged.
“I let him in my house with my children. People say how could I have not known, but I didn’t.”
Boshoff made headlines in 2006 when he launched his website www.realsouthafrica.co.za in response to the controversial crimexposouthafrica, set up by fellow Capetonian Neil Watson who wanted to scare tourists away from visiting South Africa because of the crime rate.
The following year, Boshoff set up Missing Children SA to help families look for their missing children and to give them support.
It had a website and SMS system to assist families and the police in searching for missing children, and was initially funded by Boshoff.
The next year, Boshoff left the organisation, telling friends he found it too traumatic and often had nightmares over the number of children who were found dead.
Boshoff then joined MylifE, an outreach organisation targeting youth at risk, but left there about five months before he died. He told people he was going to work for the DA and take over ward councillor Belinda Walker’s job. But like many of his stories – including the claim that he had once lost a son and that he had a trust fund to which he would have access when he turned 40 – it appeared to be a fabrication.
Shortly before he died, he was involved with a “get-rich-quick” scheme selling iPads he claimed he’d sourced in China and was hoping to sell for a profit in Cape Town. He also owed money all over town.
Some of it was to former MylifE managing director Sarah Peacocke, who rented Boshoff’s apartment to him and who discovered thousands of photographs and video clips of gay porn on his computer after he died.
Peacocke also found a voucher from Cash Crusaders for a MylifE laptop which he had sold for R850, and a modem for R150.
When it was returned to the organisation, MylifE founder Linzi Thomas said the organisation realised Boshoff had stolen five of its IBM computers, which he sold on Gumtree as well as her camera.
They also found hundreds of video clips and photographs of gay teen pornography and taped conversations from visiting gay chat rooms, with the user name “Olahatzi”, where he befriended teenage boys.
Friends say there was little sign of Boshoff’s celebrity friends at his funeral at the NG Kerk in Bloubergstrand two weeks ago, and only about 30 to 40 people turned up.
But most say his complicated personal life should not detract from the good he did to raise awareness of South Africa’s missing children.
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