The rightwing “hunter” in a Facebook picture paid a black child to pose as his “trophy” – but the photograph was old news, Beeld reported on Monday.
Hawks spokesman McIntosh Polela said this was what the man, who calls himself Eugene Terrorblance on his Facebook page, had told the police during an investigation in 2007.
“The man in the picture told the police he had paid the child to pose. The question is, why has the picture re-appeared on Facebook because it is in bad taste,” Polela told the Afrikaans daily.
“The police will investigate who published it on Facebook.”
Beeld said it was an old story, which the newspaper reported on in 2008.
At the time, it was established that the rightwing Facebook group which published the picture had been started by students of North West University in Potchefstroom.
The picture features a young white man posing with a rifle over a black child lying on the ground.
At one stage, the group had 10 616 members, but its membership started dropping dramatically when it received negative media coverage. The university took disciplinary steps against seven students who belonged to the Facebook group.
One was suspended but charges against the remaining six were eventually dropped for a lack of evidence.
The picture re-appeared last June, this time on Terrorblance's Facebook profile. – Sapa