"On August 5, 2018, Rapport published a prominent article over allegations in the book The Lost Boys of Bird Island on our front page.

"It was a mistake.

"In the week after the publication of the book, we could already establish that, although there was corroborating evidence for some of the allegations in the book, the key allegations were based on hearsay."

Its authors, Chris Steyn and former cop Mark Minnie, claim in the book that the National Party ministers and Port Elizabeth businessman Dave Allen were all part of a ring that ferried coloured boys to Bird Island in Algoa Bay and raped and molested them.

Wiley and Allen died of apparent suicide, although the book details alleged inconsistencies with the listed cause of death.

Minnie shot himself dead shortly after the release of the book last August.

Rapport said it had sources who confirmed that the National Party ministers spent time on Bird Island or near Bird Island.

A former policeman, Gordon Lamastra, also confirmed that there had been a raid on a minister's house to search for child pornography.

Lamastra said he was present when an apparent victim of molestation pointed out Malan and Allen in a picture.

A journalist for a sister publication of Rapport was also contacted by a man who claimed he had been abused by Malan as a child.

"But no journalist could independently verify the most damaging allegations," said Rapport.

"The book's authors, Christa Steyn and the ex-policeman Mark Minnie, insisted evidence was forthcoming.

"After Minnie shot himself... more information came to light that cast doubt over the integrity of the book.

"Last week, investigative journalist Jacques Pauw published emails on Vrye Weekblad.com in which he tells the publisher a few days before the publication of the book: 'We have no concrete evidence that any of the three ministers sexually molested a child.'...

"Pauw had also seen the first two of Minnie's three manuscripts for his part of the book. Malan's name does not appear in it.

"Knowing what we know now, Rapport should have handled the publication of the book's allegations differently.

"We apologise to our readers, Barend du Plessis, and relatives of Magnus Malan and John Wiley.

"Due to the damaging nature of the allegations, we should have used more caution in how we reported on it..."