Several family members arrive for Minnie’s service

A memorial service for former Port Elizabeth policeman Mark Minnie, co-author of the explosive The Lost Boys of Bird Island, will be held in Port Elizabeth on Friday.

A private cremation will take place the day before.

According to a notice printed in The Herald on Wednesday, the memorial service will be held at midday on Friday at the Dutch Reformed PE West church hall, on the corner of 5th Avenue and Pickering Street in Newton Park.

Minnie, 58, who wrote the book – which exposed an alleged paedophile ring involving top-ranking apartheid-era cabinet members – with investigative journalist Chris Steyn, was found on Monday night last week at a friend’s farm in Theescombe with a gunshot wound to his head and a firearm lying next to his body.

Family and friends have since expressed doubts that his death was a suicide.

One of Minnie’s maternal cousins, Tersia Dodo, said several relatives would travel to the city for the cremation and memorial service.

Due to medical reasons, Minnie’s mother and one of his sisters would not be travelling from America.

“Another sister who lives in the UK is here already and his brother is coming from Durban,” Dodo said.

Minnie’s son had already arrived from China.

His teenage daughter lives in Port Elizabeth.

“There is also family coming from Johannesburg.”

Dodo, who lives in St Francis Bay, said she and Minnie had been quite close.

“When he visited South Africa from China [where he taught English], I was always one of his first and last stops.

“All the cousins grew up together in Port Elizabeth.

“It has been very hard for the family, this has been a shock to us,” she said.

“He was dynamic, a good character.

“Every time I scroll through my contact list on my phone, my heart goes into spasm when I see his name, knowing I’ll never see [a call from him] coming in on my phone again.”

The book alleged that members of former president PW Botha’s cabinet were involved in child abuse and rape.