Did this white hunter really shoot a child?

POLice in South Africa have launched a nationwide appeal for the identity of a man who posted a Facebook picture showing him grinning with a gun over the apparently lifeless body of a black child in a hunting-style pose.

Police believe the image is mock-up but want to trace the man pictured in it.

The Sunday Times of South Africa, who brought the image to the attention of the authorities, said the undated picture is on the social networking site in the profile of a user called “Eugene Terrorblanche”, a play on the name of Eugene Terreblanche, the murdered leader of the whites-only Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging party.

Officials said anyone party to the production and posting of the photograph could be charged under several laws, including the Children’s Act, the Films and Publications Act and the Criminal Procedure Act.

The paper said that the Facebook user, who has few personal details in his profile, claimed to have attended school in Krugersdorp, west of Johannesburg, and that he was “self-employed”.

The picture was put on Facebook on June 24 last year – and so far not one of the user’s 590 “friends” has condemned it.

Minister of Police Nathi Mthethwa’s spokesman, Zweli Mnisi, said an “immediate investigation” had been ordered and called on the man in the picture – or anyone who recognised him – to come forward to assist in the probe.