LISTEN: Johan Booysen feels exonerated after Sunday Times report
Former KwaZulu-Natal Hawks head, Johan Booysen says he feels vindicated in the wake of The Sunday Times' apologising for the series of stories it wrote about him and his former colleagues.
In 2012, Booysen and more than 20 others from the now disbanded Cato Manor Serious and Violent Crimes Unit were arrested following the publication of the articles in which the paper alleged they had been operating a 'death squad'.
Yesterday, the Sunday Times ran a piece penned by Booysen, himself, and titled 'The death squad that wasn't.'
Editor, Bongani Siqoko has now apologised for the articles and said the paper will be returning the awards and prize money the journalists who wrote them received.
"A lot has happened in the last couple of weeks. Obviously, now with The Sunday Times apologising for the article, I think there is a bit of perspective into this whole sordid saga," Booysen said.
Booysen says while the criminal case against him and his former colleagues is still before the courts, he is confident an application they have launched against former NPA boss Shaun Abrahams, challenging his 2016 decision to reinstate racketeering charges against them after these were dropped, will prove successful.