Johannesburg - Children’s rights organisation Woman and Men Against Child Abuse (WMACA) and the EFF have welcomed the judgment in the case against child sex ring mastermind Gerhard Ackerman.
He was acquitted of some of the 700 and more charges on Monday, but found guilty of all the remaining ones.
WMACA founder Miranda Jordan said sentencing should send a very strong message, and the organisation would expect nothing less than a life sentence.
The EFF, in a statement, said Ackerman must rot in jail.
The party said while the judgment was refreshing, it came 16 years after Ackerman’s first indictment for exposing his penis to his brothers, aged 9 and 7.
“Two years later, Ackerman was again accused of sexually assaulting the same children. In July 2018, Ackerman was accused of recording himself masturbating in front of an 11-year-old boy at a Sunninghill (Gauteng) swimming school,” said the statement.
The EFF further said his co-accused, Acting High Court Judge and senior counsel for the State Capture Commission, Paul Kennedy, was found dead in February, just before he was supposed to appear in court.
“Kennedy, while providing legal services to the State Capture Commission, was arrested and released with Ackerman.
“The chairperson of the commission, Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, continued to use the legal services of this charged serial rapist. Essentially, Zondo financed Kennedy to rape minors using state funds,” read the statement.
According to the EFF, the disregard of the over 700 charges related to a child rape syndicate by Zondo stinks of white privilege.
“May this long overdue conviction bring some relief to the victims and survivors of Ackerman and Kennedy’s brutality,” added the statement.
The Star