Johannesburg - Apartheid-era defence minister Magnus Malan and two other National Party ministers, one of whom is still alive, have been named as central figures in a paedophilia ring which allegedly targeted coloured children.
The shocking allegations are contained in a recently released book, "Lost Boys of Bird Island", which details how Malan, who was a very powerful figure during the 1980s and was a right-hand man for then apartheid President PW Botha, was a leader of the sex ring.
According to the book the deaths of two other individuals, Dave Allen and John Wiley, who were believed to have been involved in the paedophile ring allegedly spurred Mark Minnie, who was a policeman at the time, to investigate the case. Minnie's attempts to investigate the allegations against the ministers were allegedly squashed by his superiors.
Former Cape Times journalist Chris Steyn, who co-wrote the book with Minnie, also conducted her own investigations into the allegations.
News24 reported that the group used South African Defence Force aircraft to be flown to an island off the shores of Port Elizabeth where they repeatedly raped young boys.
One of the boys was injured during one of the encounters and he was quickly flown to the hospital and treated at the white section of the hospital. The family of the boy was allegedly paid off for their silence.