The Unfinished Business of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission by Foundation for Human Rights

The Unfinished Business of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission

“And everyone wants to know: Who? Why? The victims ask the hardest of all the questions: How is it possible that the person I loved so much lit no spark of humanity in you?”

― Antjie Krog, Country of My Skull: Guilt, Sorrow, and the Limits of Forgiveness in the New South Africa

The Foundation for Human Rights (FHR) is a non-profit human rights and social justice organization, which protects and promotes human rights and works towards addressing the legacy of apartheid. The Unfinished Business of the Truth and Reconciliation (TRC) Programme is one of the FHR’s flagship programmes that supports victims’ families and survivors in pursuing criminal accountability for apartheid-era gross human rights violations. The Programme’s key objectives are bringing closure to victims’ families and survivors and addressing the culture of impunity in view of restoring the rule of law in South Africa.

The FHR has provided crucial support to families and survivors in a number of cases in the post-TRC era. This publication brings together these cases and serves as a commemoration of a significant gathering of victims, their family members, survivors and their legal representatives that took place in Johannesburg on 18-19 August 2023. The publication features poignant short stories that shed light on individuals who suffered from the atrocities of the apartheid regime – those who were killed, disappeared, or otherwise impacted.

This gathering and the accompanying publication serves as a reminder of the failure by the democratic state to bring perpetrators who did not apply or were refused amnesty, to justice. The cruel indifference of the post-apartheid South African state robbed victims’ families and survivors of justice, peace, and closure. This justice delayed has been justice denied.

This publication is also a humble tribute to the victims’ families and survivors of apartheid-era gross human rights violations. Their persistence in their struggle for truth, justice and recognition should serve as an inspiration for us all, and we salute their tireless efforts in seeking truth and justice for their loved ones in the past decades.

Published by the Foundation for Human Rights, August 2023 Metal Box Building, 7th Floor, 25 Owl Street cnr Stanley Avenue, Auckland Park, Johannesburg + 27 (0) 11-484-0390 www.fhr.org.za

We have made all effort to include accurate and factually correct information. Should you feel that some information has been misrepresented or incorrect, kindly contact Kasia Zdunczyk at kzdunczyk@fhr.org.za

The publication was last updated in September 2023. For any updates regarding the cases please consult the TRC Programme website at: https://www.unfinishedtrc.co.za/

Adriaano Louis Bambo

/ DATE OF DEATH

March 1991

/ THE STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE

32 years

/ CRIME

Murder by Vlakplaas

/ STAGE OF PROCEEDINGS

Investigation by the Hawks is ongoing

/ AMNESTY

Euguene De Kock, Dawid ‘Duiwel’ Brits and Daniel Lionel Snyman were granted amnesty for Bambo’s murder.

Willem Helm Johannes Coetzee (alive), Anton Pretorius (alive), Krappies Engelbrecht (alive) and Johannes Petrus Koekemoer (alive) never applied for amnesty.

OVERVIEW OF THE CASE

On or around 1 March 1991 Adriaano Louis Bambo, an informer who had worked for the Security Branch (SB) of the South African Police under Captain Willem Helm Johannes Coetzee (“Timol”), was murdered. At the time of his murder, Bambo was on the verge of disclosing sensitive information about the security police and their activities. It is alleged that he might have wanted to spill the beans about the SB’s involvement in the Simelane murder. Bambo guarded Nokuthula Simelane and may have been directly implicated in her murder. At the time of his death, he was no longer part of the police force.

Eugene De Kock, the Operational Commander of ‘Vlakplaas’, the South African Security Police Special Unit, testified before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Amnesty Committee that in compliance with his superior’s order (referring to Krappies Engelbrecht), he had instructed members of the ‘Vlakplaas’, namely Dawid ‘Duiwel’ Brits and Daniel Lionel Snyman to create a false cache of weapons in order to frame Bambo. The plan involved taking Bambo to the place where the cache was located, and then shooting him there under the pretext that he had tried to escape. Subsequently, Bambo was murdered in Nelspruit, as planned.

De Kock, Dawid ‘Duiwel’ Brits and Daniel Lionel Snyman applied for amnesty before the Amnesty Committee, which was granted. However, a number of other individuals such as Captain Willem Helm Johannes Coetzee, Anton Pretorius and Johannes Petrus Koekemoer allegedly implicated in Bambo’s murder have never applied for amnesty. Captain Willem Johannes Coetzee and Anton Pretorius currently face murder charges for killing Nokuthula Simelane.

ADRIAANO LOUIS BAMBO • AHMED TIMOL • ANTON FRANSCH • BAYEMPINI MZIZI • CAIPHUS NYOKA • COSAS 4 • CRADOCK 4 • GABORONE RAID • HIGHGATE MASSACRE • DR HOOSEN HAFFEJEE • IGNATIUS ‘IGGY’ MTEBULE • IMAM HARON • MATTHEWS MABELANE • MUSAWAKHE “SBO” PHEWA • MXOLISI ‘DICKY’ JACOBS • DR NEIL AGGETT • NOKUTHULA SIMELANE • NTOMBIKAYISE KUBHEKA • PEBCO 3 • RAMATUA NICHOLAS TLHAPI • DR RICK TURNER • TUMELO RICHARD MOTASI AND IRENE MOTASI

Ahmed Timol

/ DATE OF DEATH

27 October 1971

/ THE STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE

52 years

/ CRIME

Torture and murder in detention

/ STAGE OF PROCEEDINGS

Re-opened inquest concluded in 2017

/ AMNESTY

Captain Johannes Hendrik Gloy (died in 2012) and Johannes Zakarias van Niekerk (died in 2006), the key interrogators of Timol, never applied for amnesty for his murder and torture.

/ ACCUSED

João Rodrigues, the last person to have seen Timol alive. He did not apply for amnesty for Timol’s murder. Charged with Timol’s murder in 2018 (died in 2021).

/ LIVING SUSPECTS

Warrant Officer Neville Els (alive) and Captain Seth Sons (alive) who denied their involvement in and knowledge of torture and other abuses of political detainees at the John Vorster Square. In the reopened inquest’s judgment, Judge Mothle recommended that they are prosecuted for perjury.

OVERVIEW

An anti-apartheid activist and a teacher at the Roodepoort Indian School, Ahmed Timol was recruited to join the South African Communist Party (SACP) during a trip to London in 1967. Following his recruitment, Timol was trained in both London and Moscow in underground work and the dissemination of information. Upon his return to South Africa, he established an underground unit of the SACP, which was responsible for anti-apartheid propaganda and communication.

On the night of 22 October 1971, Timol and Salim Essop, another member of the SACP unit, were stopped at a roadblock in Coronationville. According to the police, the pair had African National Congress (ANC) and SACP materials in their boot, as well as copies of secret communication and correspondence. Eventually, Timol and Essop were taken to the notorious Security Branch Office in John Vorster Square, Johannesburg. During their time there, both men endured repeated interrogations and torture.

Five days later, on 27 October 1971, Timol died. In an inquest held the following year, Magistrate J.L.L. de Villiers found that Timol had committed suicide by jumping out of a window at the John Vorster Square Police Station. Timol’s death led to the coining of the phrase, ‘Indians can’t fly,’ an offensive sentiment which became a common expression among security police.

Meanwhile, four days after their arrest, Essop was taken to a hospital in an unconscious state. Although Essop’s family managed to obtain an interim order restraining the security police from unlawfully interrogating and applying unlawful pressure on their son, he was eventually convicted to five years in prison for his political activities, which he served in full on Robben Island. Once released, he served another three years of his banning order, before going into exile.

TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION (TRC)

The Timol family’s struggle for justice has been a bleak and disappointing one. Already in 1996, at the fall of apartheid, Timol’s mother, Hawa, testified before the TRC stating that the family did not believe the verdict of suicide to be correct. However, despite the fact that key suspects had never applied for amnesty before the TRC, they were not pursued and many of them died before justice could be served.

RE-OPENED INQUEST IN 2017

Following years of tireless efforts of the family, in particular Timol’s nephew, Imtiaz Cajee and his brothers, Mohammad and Ismail, private investigators, pro-bono counsels, and the Foundation for Human Rights (FHR), the initial inquest was eventually reopened in 2017. Based on the new evidence, in particular evidence from other political detainees and expert evidence by the pathologist and an aeronautical engineer, of a pattern of torture, the second inquest found that Timol had been severely ill-treated and tortured. As a result of this, he would not have been able to jump out of the window. The court also recommended that former Security Branch officers, Els and Sons, be prosecuted for perjury, and João Rodrigues for perjury and murder.

INDICTMENT OF JOAO RODRIGUES

In 2018, Rodrigues was formally charged with Timol’s murder. He objected to the charge and sought a stay of prosecution, citing the unreasonable delay between the crime and prosecution, and his failing memory due to advanced age.

In 2019, the full bench of the High Court and in 2021, the Supreme Court of Appeals dismissed Rodrigues’s applications for a permanent stay of prosecution, on the grounds that it was in the public interest for the matter to proceed. They also found that there had been political interference into the work of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), which has effectively stalled the prosecution and investigation of apartheid era cases. Rodrigues died in September 2021 before he could stand trial for his role in the murder of Ahmed Timol.

WARRANT OFFICER NEVILLE ELS AND CAPTAIN SETH SONS

In his 2017 judgment, Judge Mothle recommended that Els and Sons are prosecuted for perjury for lying under oath during the reopened inquest about their involvement in and knowledge of torture and other abuses of political detainees at John Vorster Square. In 2020, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) declined to prosecute the security branch officers, namely Neville Els and Seth Sons, for perjury. On 21 June 2020 the legal team acting on behalf of the Timol family made representations to the National Director Public Prosecutions (NDPP) to review the decision of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) not to prosecute the two individuals. The decision by the NDPP is yet to be made.

Anton Fransch

/ DATE OF DEATH

17 November 1989

/ THE STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE 34 years / CRIME

Alleged murder by the security forces / STAGE OF PROCEEDINGS

Investigation by the Hawks is ongoing

/ POTENTIAL SUSPECTS

Security Branch and Riot Unit members under Captains Liebenberg and Bester, and Major Brazelle were on the scene. No one applied for amnesty for Anton’s death.

OVERVIEW

Born in 1969 in Bonteheuwel on the Cape Flats, Fransch was a member of the Congress of South African Students (COSAS) as well as the Bonteheuwel Military Wing. He was a key figure in the anti-apartheid struggle and played an instrumental role in the mobilisation of the youth.

Anton Fransch was a commander in uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC). Fransch went by the pseudonym, Mahomad Slamdien. He was only 20 years old at the time of his death.

In September 1986, Fransch left for Angola where he underwent specialist military training. Two years later he returned home. On the 6th of November, the Security Branch of the South African Police detained and interrogated a comrade that knew Anton’s whereabouts. They had threatened to murder his mother and little nephew, and as a result, he revealed Anton’s location. On 17 November 1989, a seven-hour long battle ensued between Fransch and the security forces. Police fired point blank at Fransch who managed to survive the bullets until a grenade was thrown in the direction of the resistance, ultimately killing Anton.

FIRST INQUEST

In 1990, an inquest was conducted by a magistrate into the death of Fransch who found that he had committed suicide by bombing himself. During the initial inquest, no witnesses were interviewed, nor were any details of the incident released.

TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION (TRC)

At the TRC, Marc Fransch, the brother of Anton, testified about the horrors he had witnessed on the day of the Battle of Athlone and its aftermath. Both Marc Fransch and Basil Snyder, the neighbour, testified that they heard the police screaming, “kom uit jou vark,” (come out you pig) prior to the bombing. Snyder also said that he saw the grenade being thrown by a member of the police force.

The TRC was unable to determine whether the final grenade was selfdetonated in a final act of suicide, or whether it was thrown by the security forces. The family believes that Anton Fransch was intentionally killed by the security forces.

Credit: Ahmed Timol Foundation

Bayempini Mzizi

OVERVIEW

/ DATE OF DEATH

13 August 1977

/ THE STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE

46 years

/ CRIME

Torture and an alleged murder in detention

/ STAGE OF PROCEEDINGS

Investigation by the Hawks is ongoing. Lawyers acting for the family made representations to the National Director of Public Prosecutions requesting the reopening of the inquest

/ SUSPECTS

Lieutenant Colonel Ignatius Coetzee (died in 2018), the key Mzizi interrogator from the Durban Security Branch never applied for amnesty for Mzizi’s death or torture.

Bayempini Mzizi was an Inyanga (traditional healer) living in the Durban region. He was approached occasionally by members of uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) to cleanse them with traditional medicine (intelezi) before and after their MK operations. He was perceived to be closely linked to the African National Congress (ANC) and was arrested on 9 July 1977 on a suspicion of terrorism. Mzizi was detained for more than 35 days.

On 13 August 1977, Mzizi was found hanging in his cell at Brighton Beach Police station in Durban. Mzizi’s death in detention occurred 10 days after the death of Dr Hoosen Haffejee at the same police station in similar circumstances. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) found that he was brutally tortured during this period.

FIRST INQUEST IN 1987

In 1990, an inquest was conducted into the death of Mzizi. On 7 February 1978, Magistrate Odendaal found that Mzizi had committed suicide, and nobody was to blame for his death in detention.

REQUEST TO RE-OPEN AN INQUEST

In February 2021, the legal representatives for the Mzizi family made representations to the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) in terms of the Inquests Act, to reopen the inquest into the death of Bayempini Mzizi, and to consolidate this inquest with the reopened inquest into the death of Dr Hoosen Haffejee. The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) decided against consolidating the two inquests, claiming there was not enough evidence to re-open the inquest into the death of Mr Mzizi. The investigation into the death in detention of Mr Mzizi continues.

Caiphus Nyoka

/ DATE OF DEATH

24 August 1987

/ THE STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE

36 years

/ CRIME

Murder by the security forces

/ STAGE OF PROCEEDINGS

Trial

/ ACCUSED

Johan Marais (alive), who admitted to the killing of Caiphus Nyoka, never applied for amnesty. Abram Hercules Engelbrecht (alive), allegedly killed Caiphus Nyoka, never applied for amnesty. Leon Louis van den Berg (alive), who allegedly killed Caiphus Nyoka, never applied for amnesty.

Credit: Netwerk 24

OVERVIEW

A student activist and dedicated member of the Congress of South African Students (COSAS), Caiphus Nyoka, from Daveyton, was a prominent figure in the anti-apartheid movement.

In 1987, three youth activists, Exodus Nyakane, Excellent Mthembu, and Elson Mnyakeni were in the back room of the Nyoka’s house, fast asleep, when the police entered. According to the three, four white police officers barged into the house and kicked down the door of the room in which they were sleeping and asked Nyoka to identify himself. The police officers immediately ordered the other three to leave and once they were outside, they heard numerous shots being fired, after which they heard silence.

The three activists were then taken to the nearest police station where one of the officers wrote “999 Lemba Street – Caiphus Nyoka executed – Hands of Death,” on a blackboard and forced one of the young men to read it out. The men were subsequently tortured.

Evidence of 12 gunshot wounds were found upon the inspection of Nyoka’s body, which was removed from the house of his family two hours after his assassination. Upon further inspection, only two bullet shells were found in the room, even though Nyoka’s comrades stated clearly that they had heard “more than two shots,” and his wounds proved otherwise.

FIRST INQUEST IN 1988

The inquest hearing into the death of Caiphus Nyoka was held at the Benoni Magistrates’ Court in October 1988, and it was presided over by magistrate JP Myburgh. The inquest court ruled that the police had acted in self-defence, despite family members asserting that Nyoka did not have a weapon. The family pathologist found that Nyoka had been shot 12 times and he had 12 bullet wounds. This finding contradicted the claim by the police that they had shot him 9 times.

TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION (TRC)

Nyoka’s sister, Alegria, appeared before the TRC in 1997, demanding an investigation into her brother’s killing. Alegria Nyoka herself was injured when a teargas canister was thrown by members of the South African Police and exploded in her house in Daveyton on 17 May 1986.

The TRC found that “that members of the Benoni Security Branch entered the room, took the three comrades out into the yard and then executed Mr Nyoka in cold blood.”

MARAIS’S ‘CONFESSION’ AND THE SUBSEQUENT INDICTMENT

In late 2019, former security branch officer, Johan Marais, ‘confessed’ to a Rapport journalist that he had killed Nyoka in cold blood more than 30 years ago. In the light of the new evidence, the Foundation for Human Rights (FHR) and the Webber Wentzel Pro-Bono Department approached the Nyoka family and offered pro-bono legal assistance.

Despite Marais’s confession, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) only issued a murder indictment against the surviving perpetrators Johan Marais, Leon Van den Berg and Abram Engelbrecht in February 2022. The failure by the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) to decide on the inclusion of international charges (i.e., crimes against humanity) and by the Police State Attorney to resolve the issue of legal representation for the accused, have contributed to the delays of the trial. The latest pretrial hearing in the matter took place on 17 April 2023, but the matter was further postponed to 11 September 2023 after the accused brought an application to have the charges against them withdrawn.

The next hearing in the matter is set for 11 September 2023.

COSAS 4

Eustice ‘Bimbo’ Madikela

Itumeleng Peter Matabane Fanyana Nhlapo Zandisile Musi

(also known as Ntshingo)

/ DATE OF INCIDENT

15 February 1982

/ THE STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE

41 years

/ CRIME

Serious injury and murder by the Security Branch

/ STAGE OF PROCEEDINGS

Trial (21 August – 1 September 2023)

/ ACCUSED

Ephraim T Mfalapitsa (alive), an askari at Vlakplaas operative who lured the COSAS 4 students into a pump house at the mine, was refused amnesty by the TRC for their murder. Christiaan Rorich (alive), an explosive expert at the Security Branch, who placed the explosives on the site and detonated them when students were inside, was also refused amnesty.

/ AMNESTY

Jan Carel Coetzee (deceased) ordered Mfalapitsa to lure students to the pump house and gave a signal to detonate explosives, was refused amnesty for the COSAS 4 murder. Willem Frederick Schoon (deceased) ordered the killing of the COSAS 4, was refused amnesty. Abraham Grobbelaar (deceased) accompanied Coetzee on the mission and acted as a lookout, was refused amnesty. Joe Mamasela (alive), an askari who drove all the members of the Security Branch to the mine pump house, never applied for amnesty.

OVERVIEW

Eustice ‘Bimbo’ Madikela, Itumeleng Peter Matabane (also known as Ntshingo), Fanyana Nhlapo and Zandisile Musi were members of the Congress of South African Students (COSAS), an organisation associated with the then banned African National Congress (ANC). The four members were collectively known as the COSAS 4.

Before his defection from the ANC, Tlhomedi Ephraim Mfalapitsa (an askari) had enjoyed a close relationship with Musi’s brothers. Mfalapitsa contacted Musi who, erroneously believing Mfalapitsa to be an MK member, discussed with him the possibilities of leaving the country and obtaning military training in exile. Mfalapitsa reported this to Carel Coetzee and Willem Frederick Schoon, his superiors in the South African Police (SAP) who ordered him to lure Musi and the other three students to a pump house at a mine near Krugersdorp, under the false pretence that he intended to give them military training. Joe Mamasela drove the four students to the pump house, under the guise that he was a taxi driver who had been hired by Mfalapitsa. Once they were inside, the pump house was locked and the explosives that had been planted by members of the Security Branch were detonated by Coetzee and Rorich, killing Madikela, Matabane and Nhlapo, and seriously injuring Musi.

TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION (TRC)

In May 1999, five alleged perpetrators (former Security Branch officers Coetzee, Willem Frederick Schoon, Abraham Grobbelaar, Rorich and Mfalapitsa) were refused amnesty by the TRC for murder and grievous bodily harm of the COSAS 4. Although he did not apply for amnesty, Mamasela testified in camera at a Section 29 investigative hearing, before the TRC.

INVESTIGATION AND INDICTMENT

In 2019, at the request of the Foundation for Human Rights (FHR) and the Webber Wentzel Pro Bono Department acting on behalf of the COSAS 4 families, an investigation into the matter was revived.

In August 2021, a former “askari”, Tlhomedi Ephraim Mfalapitsa, and Security Branch explosives expert, Christiaan Sebert Rorich, were charged with kidnapping and murder of the COSAS 4. In November 2021, charges of crimes against humanity of murder and crimes against humanity of apartheid, were added to the indictment.

Sadly, Zandisile Musi died in June 2021, before the surviving perpetrators were indicted.

Following multiple delays, caused by the refusal of the South African Police Services to pay the legal defense fees for Rorich, the trial has finally been scheduled for 21 August – 01 September 2023.

Supplied by the family

Credit: Supplied by the family

Credit:

Top: Zandisile Musi Left: Fanyana Nhlapo Right: Ntshingo

Cradock 4 Fort Calata Matthew Goniwe Sicelo Mhlauli Sparrow Mkonto

/ DATE OF INCIDENT

27 June 1985

/ THE STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE

38 years

/ CRIME

Kidnapping and murder

Top: Fort Calata

Left: Matthew Goniwe

Right: Sicelo Mhlauli

Bottom: Sparrow Mkonto

Credit: Supplied by the families

/ STAGE OF PROCEEDINGS

Investigation concluded – decision by the NPA awaited

/ AMNESTY

Harold Snyman (died in 1998), Eric Alexander Taylor (died in 2016), Gerhardus Johannes Lotz (committed suicide in 2016), Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg (died in 2004), Johan van Zyl (died in 2011) and Hermanus Barend du Plessis (died in 2023) applied for amnesty for the Cradock 4’s murder but were refused amnesty by the TRC.

OVERVIEW

The Cradock Four is a collective name given to Fort Calata, Matthew Goniwe, Sicelo Mhlauli, and Sparrow Mkonto. On 27 June 1985, the Cradock Four left for Port Elizabeth to attend a meeting of the United Democratic Front (UDF). That evening, on their way back to Cradock, the four activists were abducted at a roadblock set by the Security Branch. All four were kidnapped, assaulted, and murdered. The bodies of Sparrow Mkonto and Sicelo Mhlauli were found in a dump near Bluewater Bay in Port Elizabeth. The bodies of Matthew Goniwe and Fort Calata were found in the bay a few days later. All the bodies had been badly assaulted and burnt.

The police and the government denied any involvement in the men’s deaths. The information that subsequently emerged indicated that the order to kill the Cradock 4 could have been traced up the chain of command. The secret signal sent to the State Security Council Secretariate and dated early June 1985 proposed the permanent ‘removal from society’ of Goniwe, Calata and Mbulelo Goniwe (nephew of Matthew Goniwe). It later emerged that the men’s surveillance and murders had long been on the Security Branch’s agenda.

FIRST INQUEST IN 1987 AND THE SECOND INQUEST IN 1993

In 1987, a first inquest presided over by magistrate M De Beer, concluded that the Cradock Four had been killed by ‘unknown persons’. Therefore, no one was prosecuted for assault or murder. A second inquest presided over by Neville Zietsman in 1993, found that the Cradock Four’s deaths had been caused by the police and mentioned certain individuals as potential suspects. Despite the findings, no one has been subsequently prosecuted.

TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION (TRC)

In 1996, the wives of the Cradock 4 activists, namely Ms Nomonde Calata, Ms Nyameka Goniwe, Ms Sindiswa Mkonto and Ms Nombuyiselo Mhlauli testified at the first TRC hearing in East London. Families requested further investigation to ascertain who was responsible for the murder of the Cradock 4.

In 1999, six former security officers were denied amnesty by the TRC for the murder of the Cradock 4.

THE FAMILIES’ CONTINUED QUEST FOR JUSTICE

Since 1994, Lukhanyo Calata, the son of Fort Calata, together with the Goniwe, Mhlauli and Mkonto families have been applying increasing pressure on the government to bring the perpetrators to justice. In 2018, Lukhanyo Calata met Shaun Abrahams, then National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP), who informed him that a reopened investigation was underway. When no further action was being taken on the case by the government, Lukhanyo Calata approached the Foundation for Human Rights (FHR) for assistance.

On 20 July 2021, Lukhanyo Calata on behalf of the Calata, Mhlauli and Mkonto families, filed an application in the Pretoria High Court, seeking to compel the National Prosecuting Authorities (NPA) and the South African Police Service (SAPS) to finalise the investigation and to make a prosecutorial decision with respect to murder of the Cradock 4 activists. These proceedings disclosed the dire state of the investigations. The litigation was suspended after the NPA agreed to follow up on several outstanding aspects, and closer collaboration between the prosecutors and family legal team ensued. Regrettably, the investigations could not be concluded quickly enough.

Over the last 2 years several witnesses and potential suspects connected to the case have died, including former Security Branch Head in Cradock, Eric Winter, former President FW De Klerk, former Commander of the Security Branch and the SAP Commissioner Johan van der Merwe, former Minister of Law and Order Adriaan Vlok, and recently Hermanus Barend du Plessis. These deaths (particularly those of Winter and Du Plessis) effectively bring the efforts to secure justice in the Cradock 4 case to an end.

The NPA and the Hawks have now concluded the investigation, and the formal decision in the matter is awaited.

This photograph is often mistaken for a photograph of the Cradock Four. However, the four activists in the picture include (from the left): Mbulelo Goniwe, Madoda Jacobs, Fort Calata, and Matthew Goniwe.

Credit: The Washington post via Getty images

Gaborone Raid

(‘Operation Plecksy’)

/ DATE OF INCIDENT

14 June 1985

/ THE STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE

38 years

/ CRIME

Serious injury and murder by the Security Forces

/ STAGE OF PROCEEDINGS

Investigation by the Hawks is ongoing

/ AMNESTY

12 of the SADF soldiers involved applied for and were granted amnesty. Craig Williamson, apartheid spy, has never applied for amnesty for his role in the Gaborone raid.

/ KILLED

George Pahle (47)

Lindiwe Pahle (36)

Thamsanqa Harry Mnyele (36)

Mike Hamlyn (24)

Duke Machobane (31)

Basil Zondi (60)

Joseph Malaza (28)

Dick Mtsweni (70)

Peter Mofoka (6)

Euginia Kobole

Gladys Kesupile

Ahmed Geer (36)

/ PHYSICALLY INJURED

Tebogo Gqabi (4)

Elinah Mtsweni (60)

Busi Mtsweni (10)

Moitse Botshelo (35)

Prince Seakgosing Mampane (25)

Roelfin Geer (26)

Jean Fisher (39)

OVERVIEW

On 14 June 1985, a number of South African Defence Force (SADF) operatives crossed the border into Botswana in the hopes of finding members of the African National Congress (ANC) who were in exile.

On 14 June 1985, troops crossed into Botswana as per the orders of General Constand Viljoen, despite being in contravention of international law. During the raid, 12 individuals, including a six-year-old boy, were killed.

Credit: Let Us Study History

Several locations in Gaborone were targeted by the SADF. In the early hours of the morning, approximately 50 soldiers made their way to Gaborone, where they used falsified number plates in order to smuggle in tanks and an array of vehicles which they had selected for the raid.

Under the cover of darkness and hidden from the Botswana Defence Force (BDF), four residences were destroyed in their entirety and four were badly damaged. Numerous weapons, multiple documents, and even a computer were seized during the raid. Six individuals survived this brutal onslaught but were injured in the process.

The raid was seen as a great success by the apartheid government, and they saw the deaths of a dozen anti-apartheid activists as a victory. The BDF was heavily criticised for its failure to stop the raid, but were largely blindsided by the SADF forces who illegally entered their country.

TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION (TRC)

The case of the Gaborone Raid appeared before the TRC and 12 of the SADF soldiers involved, applied for and were granted amnesty. Connections between the BDF and the SADF were called into question because the latter were able to enter with ease, undetected by the former. Any and all connections, however, were denied.

In 1998, apartheid spy, Craig Williamson, apologised for his role in the many acts of repression carried out by the government, in which he was involved. He justified the raid on Gaborone by claiming that just prior to the act, a large cache of firearms and landmines belonging to the ANC were found, and inside information stated that these armaments were tied directly to the ANC emigres in Botswana.

Thus, in an attempt to intercept what they suspected to be an attack, the SADF struck first, and they struck hard. The Gaborone raid was signed off by the notorious Vlakplaas Unit. Soon after, however, it emerged that the cache of arms may have been planted by Stratcom, the propaganda wing of the security police.

The investigation into the Gabrone Raid is ongoing.

Highgate Massacre

/ DATE OF INCIDENT

1 May 1993

/ THE STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE

30 years

/ CRIME

Serious injury, attempted murder and murder

/ STAGE OF PROCEEDINGS

Investigation by the Hawks is ongoing

/ AMNESTY

No one applied for amnesty

/ KILLED

Boyce Michael Wheeler

Derek John Whitfield

Stanley Hacking

Deon Harris

Douglas Gates

/ PHYSICALLY INJURED

Neville Beling

Karl Weber

Billy Baling

Nkosinathi Alfred Gontshi (now deceased)

Doreen Roussouw (now deceased)

Megan Boucher

Charles Bodington Credit: Daily Dispatch

OVERVIEW

On 1 May 1993, unknown shooters targeted the Highgate Hotel in East London. It is recorded that a group of about four or five armed men in balaclavas entered the hotel at around 10pm, armed with AK47s, and commenced shooting randomly at patrons at the bar and tossed a teargas grenade at patrons. As a result of the attack five people were killed and seven others were seriously injured.

Initially, it was suspected that the military wing of the Azanian People’s Liberation Army (APLA) conducted the attack, especially because APLA had claimed responsibility for other attacks, including those on the Fort Beaufort Yellowwood Hotel, Queenstown Spur and King Williamstown Golf Club. APLA has since denied responsibility for the attack and did not apply for amnesty at the TRC Amnesty Committee. The modus operandi used during the attack did not point to the one that APLA used.

It is also noted that evidence has been lost, particularly ballistic evidence taken from the crime scene.

TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION (TRC)

Three survivors of the Highgate attack and two family members of victims gave their testimonies to the Human Rights Violations Committee of the TRC in East London in 1996 and 1997. However, the TRC received no amnesty applications in connection with the attack. Furthermore, the TRC did not investigate the incident further following the hearings.

QUEST FOR JUSTICE

Survivors and the families of those killed formed the Highgate Survivors’ Support Group in East London in 2007. The Group has been demanding an effective and proper investigation into the attack and has been seeking closure in the face of 30 years inaction by the South African government. Although the attack saw five people killed, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has never opened a formal inquest into the incident.

The Hawks concluded the investigation into the attack and a formal decision by the NPA is awaited.

Credit: NPA News

Dr Hoosen Haffejee

/ DATE OF INCIDENT

2 August 1977

/ THE STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE

46 years

/ CRIME

Torture and murder in detention

/ STAGE OF PROCEEDINGS

Reopened inquest concluded

/ AMNESTY

Mohun Deva Gopal (alive) applied for amnesty for his involvement in the assault on Haffejee but was refused amnesty. All other police officers involved in Haffejee’s arrest and detention, including Taylor (died in 2019) and Du Toit (deceased), did not apply for amnesty.

Credit: The Foundation for Human Rights

OVERVIEW

Hoosen Mia Haffejee was born on 6 November 1950 in Pietermaritzburg and was one of three children. After matriculating in 1965, Haffejee relocated to India to study for the pre-medical degree at Bhavna’s college, Bombay. Since the early age, Haffejee was politically conscious but it is suspected that it was in India that he had joined the African National Congress (ANC).

Haffejee continued his political activism upon his return to South Africa, where he befriended and got involved with Ms Matheevathinee Benjamin, a nurse at the hospital where Haffejee worked. Disappointed with how the relationship was unfolding, Ms Benjamin reported Haffejee to the Security Branch of the South African Police (SAP) and became an informant for the police. Thereafter, Haffejee was under police surveillance.

On the morning of 2 August 1977, Haffejee was arrested by the Special Branch under the Terrorism Act. Within 24 hours of his arrest, Haffejee was dead. Just 26 at the time, Haffejee was found with his trousers around his neck, hanging from a grille door at the Brighton Beach police station. Police officers responsible for his arrest claimed that he had taken his own life for fear of imprisonment. The family believed that he was brutally tortured and killed.

FIRST INQUEST IN 1978

Despite ample evidence proving that foul play was probable, the initial inquest in 1978 ruled Haffejee’s death as a suicide. A pathologist commissioned by the Haffejee family shone light on evidence that proved otherwise. The angle of Haffejee’s body, the fact that he was seated, and the way in which his neck was twisted, coupled with the myriad wounds and skin missing from his body, all pointed toward the fact that his death was not a suicide. Lt James Brough Taylor and Captain Petrus Lodewikus du Toit denied torturing Haffejee during interrogation, and the state pathologist’s report found his death consistent with hanging, despite the 60 wounds on his body. Magistrate Trevor Blunden ruled that Haffejee had committed suicide by hanging, and that the injuries on his body were not connected to his death.

THE TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION (TRC)

In 1996, the case came before the TRC. At the hearing, a former Security Branch officer, Mohun Deva Gopal, testified that he had been present during Haffejee’s detention. He stated that he had witnessed Taylor and Du Toit interrogate, assault, and torture Haffejee. The torture continued into the night, and the next morning Gopal was told that Haffejee had passed away. He was also told to say that Haffejee attempted to escape during the night and had injured himself in the process.

Gopal testified that he did not believe Haffejee had committed suicide, as he was very strong psychologically. Gopal also stated that he believed the version of events accepted by the 1978 inquest had been deliberately fabricated. During the hearing, Taylor was subpoenaed, and denied all allegations made against him.

FAMILY’S QUEST FOR JUSTICE

As a result of the pressure by the family and their legal representatives who had to threaten the Minister of Justice with litigation should the reopening of the inquest be further delayed, on 16 August 2019 the Minister of Justice announced a reopening of the inquest. Security Branch Colonel James Taylor, who was involved in the arrest and brutal interrogation of Dr Hoosen Haffejee died on 19 August 2019, just days after the Minister of Justice officially announced the inquest into Haffejee’s death in detention.

The reopened inquest into the death in detention of Dr Haffejee ran from 16 August 2021 until the 17 September 2021 at the Pietermaritzburg High Court. The Haffejee family argued that the evidence presented during the reopened inquests proves that Dr Haffejee could not have committed suicide. They argued that he was brutally tortured and either died as a result of the injuries sustained during the interrogation, or was killed by the Security Branch to cover the brutal torture. The family also sought charges of murder by common purpose and or perjury against Gopal and charges of perjury against Veeragululu Naidoo, Derek Naude, Johannes Meyer and Matheevathinee Benjamin.

The closing arguments took place on 18 and 19 October 2022.

On 13 September 2023 Judge Zaba Nkosi handed down his judgment, and confirmed the family’s belief that Dr Haffejee did not commit suicide but was brutally tortured and killed by members of the Security Branch of the South African Police (SAP).

Judge Nkosi found that the Security Branch officers primarily responsible for torturing and murdering Dr Haffejee were Captain Petrus Lodewikus Du Toit and Lieutenant James Brough Taylor, both now deceased.

The judge also recommended that the National Prosecuting Authority considers bringing criminal charges against the surviving police officers and individuals implicated in the Haffejee’s murder.

IgnatiusMtebule‘Iggy’

OVERVIEW

/ DATE OF INCIDENT

February 1987

/ THE STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE

36 years

/ CRIME

Enforced disappearance and presumed murder

/ STAGE OF PROCEEDINGS

Investigation by the Hawks is ongoing

/ AMNESTY

No one applied for amnesty

Ignatius ‘Iggy’ or ‘Gab’ Mtebule was a student activist associated with the then banned Azanian Students Organisation (AZASO) in 1975, and was a commander of the underground unit of the African National Congress (ANC) operating in the Transvaal.

TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION (TRC)

Samuel Mtebule, Iggy Mtebule’s brother, testified before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) that Iggy had been expelled from university in 1976 for his activism, and had gone into exile in about 1981. He then allegedly returned to South Africa and became an underground ANC operative in Johannesburg. The ANC was also a banned organisation at the time.

In February 1987, Mtebule’s unit was allegedly infiltrated by apartheid agent Joy Harnden, who lured him to a restaurant in Hillbrow and identified him to the Security Branch of the South African Police (SAP) as an underground operative. It was the last time Mtebule would be seen alive. To date his whereabouts remain unknown.

The TRC did not reach any conclusion regarding Iggy’s disappearance.

FAMILY’S QUEST FOR JUSTICE

Since Iggy’s disappearance the family has been trying to establish his whereabouts in order to find closure and ensure burial in accordance with customs. In the early 1990’s the family was hopeful that Iggy would come back home with exile returnees, however, to no avail. Tired of waiting, the family approached the ANC leadership for information about Iggy but was unable to obtain any information.

Credit: Madeleine Fullard

The investigation by the Hawks is ongoing.

Imam Haron

/ DATE OF INCIDENT

28 May 1969

/ THE STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE

54 years

/ CRIME

Torture and alleged murder in detention

/ STAGE OF PROCEEDINGS

Reopened inquest concluded and judgement awaited

/ AMNESTY

“Spyker” van Wyk (died in 1990), Dirk Genis (died in 2003) and JHH Burger (alive) did not apply for amnesty.

Credit: Imam Abdul Haron Foundation

OVERVIEW

Imam Haron was a progressive Islamic scholar and Imam at the Stegman Road Mosque in Cape Town. Over the years, he became increasingly critical of the government’s apartheid policies and is known to have developed close ties with the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC). His sermons and publications had caught the attention of the Security Branch of the South African Police (SAP).

On 28 May 1969, Imam Haron was summoned to the Security Branch office at Caledon Square in Cape Town, where he was charged with terrorism under section 6 of the Terrorism Act 83 of 1967. He was kept in solitary confinement for 123 days and subjected to daily interrogations and likely torture. The Haron family was told that he had died on 27 September 1969. The police stated that he had fallen down a flight of stairs. On 29 September 1969, over 40 000 people came to pay their final respects to him.

FIRST INQUEST IN 1970

Despite opposing evidence, in 1970 the magistrate of the first inquest, ruled that Haron had fallen to his death, possibly by accident. In the reopened inquest, the family observed “it is hardly surprising then that the first inquest, presided over by Additional Magistrate J S P Kuhn, found that nobody was to blame for Haron’s death. He accepted the police claims, without question. Magistrate Kuhn played his role in the façade of justice that unfolded in the Cape Town Magistrates’ Court between February and March 1970.”

REOPENED INQUEST IN 2022

In 2019, encouraged by the success of the Timol inquest and based on new evidence and other grounds, the Haron Family made representations to the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP), requesting the reopening of the inquest. On 31 May 2022, almost two and a half years after the family had filed representations with the NDPP, the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Ronald Lamola, formally requested the Judge President of the Western Cape Division of the High Court to designate a judge to reopen the inquest into the death in detention of Iman Haron. The inquest was set down for hearing between 7 and 18 November 2022 at the Western Cape Division of the High Court.

Before the inquest started, the two persons of material interest to the case, former Security Branch officers, “Spyker” van Wyk and Dirk Genis, died. Johannes Burger another person of interest is still alive and appeared in the reopened inquest.

At the reopened inquest, the court heard that Haron’s family did not wish to see Burger prosecuted. Burger was one of the youngest and lowest-ranking officers at Maitland Police Station in 1969 at the time of the Imam’s death. The family felt that “there is a certain unfairness in holding a person of such stature as the only person criminally liable in such circumstances.”

Moreover, the family of Haron felt that prosecuting Burger would not bring them any peace; that during the just-passed month of Ramadan, forgiveness should be preached and practiced; and that Burger “has his own conscience to live with in his advanced age.” The major remedy available to the family of Haron all these years later, then, is a kind of posthumous shaming for those complicit in the cleric’s death and its cover-up. This includes the posthumous shaming of two district surgeons, Doctors Viviers and Gosling, and the chief state pathologist of Cape Town, Dr Schwar. The suggestion from the family’s legal team is that these men be posthumously struck from the roll of medical professionals.

The closing arguments in the reopened inquest were heard on 24 and 25 April 2023. Judgment in the reopened Haron inquest will be delivered at the Western Cape High Court on 9 October 2023.

Credit: Imam Abdul Haron Foundation

Matthews Mabelane

/ DATE OF INCIDENT

15 February 1977

/ THE STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE

46 years

/ CRIME

Alleged torture and murder in detention

/ STAGE OF PROCEEDINGS

The investigation by Hawks is ongoing

/ AMNESTY

None of the officers involved in Mabelane’s interrogation and death applied for amnesty. These include Warrant Officer Leana Viljoen (alive), Jacobus Johannes Cilliers (deceased) and Warrant Officer Petrus Daniel Jordaan (deceased).

Credit: Ahmed Timol Foundation

OVERVIEW

On 15 February 1977, Matthews ‘Mojo’ Mabelane died in detention by ‘falling to his death from the tenth floor’ of John Vorster Square at the tender age of 23. Mabelane was detained in terms of Section 6(1) of the Terrorism Act and was arrested near Zeerust while attempting to cross the border to Botswana. The Security Branch of the South African Police (SAP) held Mabelane in custody for 25 days before his murder.

Once a member of the Soweto Students Representative Council, it was no surprise that Mabelane’s arrest coincided with the infiltration of underground cells by security police, following intelligence reports that they were responsible for transporting young activists to Botswana.

Prior to his death, Mabelane’s father and mother were allowed to visit him and bring him food parcels. His father, Reverend Phillip Mabelane made clear that he had reported his son’s disappearances to the police but received no assistance. When Mabelane’s parents came to visit him, they were twice refused entrance.

According to police reports, Mabelane was being interrogated by two police officers and a sergeant. They claimed that when one of the officers left the room, Mabelane ran towards the window and balanced precariously on the edge until he fell. The remaining officer and sergeant alleged that they were unable to stop him.

All those who visited Mabelane just days before his death, including a doctor and a magistrate, had found him to be of sound mental and physical health.

AN INFORMAL INQUEST

An informal inquest into the Mabelane death was held. At the inquest Mr Liebowitz, who was representing the Mabelane family, requested a postponement until witnesses could be found to testify in favour of Mabelane. He was, however, unsuccessful in his attempts. The magistrate who presided over Mabelane’s case, Mr Dormehle, found that Mabelane had fallen to his death accidentally and that there was no foul play involved.

Following Mabelane’s death, the police were accused of the negligence and failure to properly barricade an interrogation room. The police, however, retorted that amid the influx of detainees in the aftermath of June 1976, rooms which were not normally used for interrogations had to be repurposed as such, and this was why Mabelane had fallen from the tenth-floor window.

TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION (TRC)

The TRC Final Report references Mr Phillip Mabelane, the father of Matthews Mabelane, as giving the following account of the day when he was informed that his son had died:

“We went to the tenth floor where they told me that my child was there and was interrogated and jumped through the window and fell down from the tenth floor. I asked how did he come through because he was in your hands. No, we just saw him, suddenly we saw him going through the window.

“After that they told me that … I do not have the right to take any steps regarding this matter, according to the law. All I could do is for them to release the corpse to me that I should bury it myself. Truly, I did that, I buried my son.”

THE FAMILY’S QUEST FOR JUSTICE

Since Matthews Mabelane died in detention on 15 February 1977, the Mabelane family has been seeking answers, closure and justice. Lasch Mabelane, Matthews’s brother, attended almost every court hearing at the reopened inquest into Timol’s death in 2017, travelling from his home in Soweto to Pretoria and hoping that one day he too would see justice done. Lasch Mabelane went to his grave without closure.

The investigation into the death in detention of Matthews Mabelane is ongoing.

Credit: BBC / Lasch and Philip Mabelane

OVERVIEW

Musawakhe “Sbho” Phewa

/ DATE OF INCIDENT

19 May 1987

/ THE STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE

36 years

/ CRIME

Enforced disappearance and presumed murder

/ STAGE OF PROCEEDINGS

Inquest formally opened but no dates

/ AMNESTY

No one applied for amnesty

Credit: Supplied by the family

Musawakhe Sbho Phewa was an anti-apartheid activist affiliated to the United Democratic Front (UDF). He lived in Lamontville in Durban with his mother. Some circumstances of his disappearances were revealed during the TRC amnesty proceedings linked with the disappearance of Ntombikayise Kubheka.

According to the TRC Amnesty Committee record, in April and May 1987, an underground MK unit centred around Ms Ntombikayise Kubheka in KwaMashu, Durban, was targeted for infiltration by the Port Natal (Durban) Security Police. A week before Ntombikayise Kubheka was killed, she met with three askaris whom she had befriended, believing them to be MK comrades from exile. These askaris were Xola Frank Mbane, Nicholas Dube and Spyker Myeza. Ntombi asked them to assist another comrade, Sbho Phewa, who needed assistance with collection of firearms from the Transkei. Mbane and the other askaris reported to their white superiors at the Durban Security Branch who included Adrian Baker, Dawid Ras and Frank McCarter; and they were instructed to bring Phewa. They picked Phewa up under the pretext that they wanted to help him as requested by Ntombi. They handed him over to Security Branch members at Winklespruit, the same place where Ntombi was taken after her abduction. The askaris were given money for liquor, and when they returned after 3 hours Joe Coetzer told them that Phewa was dead.

No one applied for amnesty for the death of Sbho Phewa, and his body has never been found.

Sbho Phewa never had a chance to see his only child, Mbuso Khoza, who was born a day after his father’s enforced disappearance on 19 May 1987.

INQUEST OPENED IN 2022

Although the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) opened a formal inquest into Phewa’s death, in October 2022, the matter has not yet proceeded. The dates for an inquest are yet to be set at the Umlazi Magistrate Court.

Mxolisi ‘Dicky’Jacobs

OVERVIEW

An anti-apartheid activist, Mxolisi ‘Dicky’ Jacobs was a member of a youth organisation in Upington in the Northern Cape. He was also an ardent supporter of the United Democratic Front (UDF). Jacobs was arrested more than once by the Security Branch of the South African Police (SAP). In 1985, he was arrested after an illegal march during the students’ school boycott, and was interrogated and beaten. A medical examination found that his eardrum had been perforated.

Jacobs was arrested again on 15 June 1986, amid widespread arrests occurring across the country, in the days leading up to 16 June. Under the state of emergency, many activists were taken into custody by the Security Branch. In the Northern Cape alone, as many as 166 activists were arrested and a significant proportion of the detainees were subjected to torture.

No one applied for amnesty

Credit: Supplied by the family

Jacobs spent 129 days in detention until he was found hanged in his prison cell on 22 October 1986. Fellow detainees of Jacobs stated that it was unlikely that he had hanged himself. In the days, and even the hours, leading up to his death, he was in good spirits and appeared optimistic.

Jacobs’ family, and his aunt in particular, could not accept the circumstances of his death and found it difficult to believe the course of events narrated to them by the police.

TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION (TRC)

Friends and family members of Jacobs attended hearings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), where his aunt testified. Consensus among those who came out in support of Jacobs, was that he would not have killed himself while in detention.

The investigation by the Hawks into the death in detention of Jacobs is ongoing.

AGGETT • NOKUTHULA SIMELANE • NTOMBIKAYISE KUBHEKA • PEBCO 3 • RAMATUA NICHOLAS TLHAPI • DR RICK TURNER • TUMELO RICHARD MOTASI AND IRENE MOTASI

Dr Neil Aggett

/ DATE OF INCIDENT

5 February 1982

/ THE STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE

41 years

/ CRIME

Torture and murder in detention

/ STAGE OF PROCEEDINGS

Reopened inquest concluded and judgment delivered in 2022

/ AMNESTY

Credit: Media24, Beeld

Paul Erasmus (died in 2021) was granted amnesty for harassing political activists including Dr Neil Aggett. Roelof Jacobus Venter (alive) was granted amnesty for assaulting political activists, including Dr Aggett. Aggett’s key interrogators, namely Major Arthur Conwright and Lieutenant Stephen Whitehead (died in 2019) never applied for amnesty. Similarly, other key individuals implicated in Aggett’s torture, murder and a subsequent cover up, including, among others, Nicolaas Johannes Deetlefs (alive), Captain Martin Naude (alive), James Andrew van Schalkwyk (deceased), Capt. Andries Abraham Struwig (died in 2014), Captain Daniel Elhardus Swanepoel (alive), Joseph Petrus Woensdregt (alive), and Johannes Nicolaas Visser (alive) and Magezi Eddie Chauke (alive), never applied for amnesty.

OVERVIEW

Neil Aggett was a medical doctor and trade union organiser, who died whilst in police detention after he was arrested by the Security Branch of the South African Police (SAP). He was detained at John Vorster Square, where a team of policemen led by Lieutenant Stephen Whitehead and Major Arthur Cronwright tortured him by, amongst other things, subjecting him to electric shocks. After 70 days in detention Neil Aggett was found dead in his cell on 5 February 1982.

FIRST INQUEST IN 1982

On 21 December 1982, the inquest began, presided over by Magistrate Pieter Kotze. Despite clear evidence showing that Aggett had been tortured while in detention, his death was ruled a suicide by the magistrate.

TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION (TRC)

Aggett’s case came before the TRC in 1998. The TRC found that there was an overwhelming body of evidence that the actions of Whitehead and Cronwright had induced Aggett’s suicide. Whitehead did not make any disclosures to the TRC or apply for amnesty.

On 2 May 1996, Liz Floyd, who had been detained with Dr Aggett, and who was severely traumatised following Neil’s death, testified before a hearing of the TRC in Johannesburg. She called on Aggett’s interrogators to come forward and speak the truth. None did.

THE FAMILY’S QUEST FOR JUSTICE

Aggett’s parents, Aubrey and Joy, and brother, Michael, wanted to see justice done but went to their graves without closure. They had to live and die with a manifestly false official finding that nobody was to blame for Neil’s death. Neil’s sister, Jill Burger, and nephew, Stephen Aggett, have persisted in seeking closure and justice for the murder of Neil Aggett.

An investigation conducted by Frank Dutton (commissioned by FHR) established compelling evidence that members of the former Security Branch falsified evidence before the original inquest court, leading to a finding that he had taken his own life. The findings of this investigation were brought to the attention of the National Director of Prosecution. After substantial delays, on 16 August 2019, the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Ronald Lamola, agreed to request the Judge President to reopen the inquest into Aggett’s death, and to appoint a Judge to hear the matter.

REOPENED INQUEST IN 2020 AND 2021

The Aggett family, Neil’s partner, Liz Floyd, his friends, and comrades had to wait 38 years for the inquest to be reopened. The reopened inquest commenced on 20 January 2020.

On 21 January 2020, the court, the parties, media representatives, and others attended an in loco inspection at John Vorster Square. The group visited the 9th and 10th floors, where political detainees were interrogated. A smaller group also participated in the inspection of cells on the 2nd floor, where political detainees were kept. It was on this 2nd floor that Aggett had allegedly hanged himself. At the request of the Aggett family a simulation exercise was undertaken by Thivash Moodley, an aeronautical engineer, to establish the likelihood of Aggett being able to hang himself using a kikoi scarf.

On the 4 March 2022, Judge Motsamai Makume overturned the findings of the 1982 inquest, in his ruling in the Johannesburg High Court. After a thorough inquiry based on factual evidence and depositions of former members of the Security Branch and fellow detainees, the court ruled that Dr Neil Aggett did not die by suicide but was killed by members of the Security Branch of the South African Police. The court recommended a further investigation and possibly, prosecution with respect to a number implicated individuals including Vissers, Deetlefs, Chauke, Woensdregt and Swanepoel.

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is yet to indict the surviving perpetrators.

Nokuthula Simelane

/ DATE OF INCIDENT

1983

/ THE STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE

40 years

/ CRIME

Torture, enforced disappearance and alleged murder

/ STAGE OF PROCEEDINGS

Trial

/ AMNESTY

Eight perpetrators applied for amnesty for Simelane’s kidnapping and all were granted amnesty. In addition, five applied for amnesty for her torture. Anton Pretorius (alive), Willem Helm Johannes Coetzee (alive) and Frederick Mong (died in 2021) were refused amnesty for her torture. None of the perpetrators applied for amnesty for Simelane’s murder.

/ ACCUSED

In 2016, Willem Helm Johannes Coetzee, Anton Pretorius, Frederick Mong (died in 2021) and Msebenzi Radebe (died in 2019) were charged with murder of Nokuthula Simelane.

Credit: Kevin Sutherland

OVERVIEW

23-year-old Nokuthula Aurelia Simelane was a university graduate and member of uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC). Simelane was undertaking underground work for MK, performing courier services between South Africa and Eswatini.

While on an underground operation, Simelane met with Norman Mkhonza, a man who she believed to be a fellow MK member. Mkhonza, however, was an askari, a state operative, masquerading as an ANC comrade. Mkhonza had connections with the Soweto Intelligence Unit (SIU) and the South African Police (SAP). Mkhonza informed his superiors about his meeting with Simelane, all of whom sought to abduct her in the hopes of turning her into a police asset.

A group of police officers including Willem Coetzee, Anton Pretorius, J.F. Williams, J.E. Ross, Moleke Longene, Frederick Mong, M.L. Selamolela, and Msebenzi Radebe assisted Mkhonza in apprehending and kidnapping Simelane. She was transported to a Security Branch operational office in Norwood where she was interrogated and tortured.

Sometime later, she was transferred to a farm in the North West where she was detained and tortured for a month. After this, her whereabouts remain unclear.

Following her disappearance in 1983, her family lodged enquiries at the borders of South Africa and Eswatini as well as with the ANC but were unable to locate her remains. Now, four decades later, Simelane’s family is yet to receive closure as the trial has been postponed repeatedly.

TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION (TRC)

In 1997 Nokuthula’s father testified before the Human Rights Violations Committee of the TRC and pleaded before the TRC for help in finding his daughter. In 2001, the Amnesty Committee of the TRC granted amnesty to some of the perpetrators, including those who had lied about having tortured Simelane. None of the perpetrators applied for amnesty with regards to her murder.

THE FAMILY’S QUEST FOR JUSTICE

The Simelane family opened the case docket in 1996 but was informed that the case could not be investigated because it was transferred to the TRC. Once the TRC closed down, the Simelane case was handed over to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) for further investigation and prosecution, and it was identified as one of the cases for immediate investigation. However, it was only in 2010 that the case received some attention.

In the period between 2005 to 2015, the Simelane family was interacting with the NPA in hope that the NPA would finalise the investigation and make a decision in the matter. In 2015, Thembi Nkadimeng, Nokuthula’s sister, filed an application at the High Court in an attempt to compel the NPA and the police to act in the matter of the disappearance of her sister. This application revealed gross political interference and the suppression of TRC cases by the Executive, explained in supporting affidavits submitted by the former National Director of Public Prosecutions Vusi Pikoli and the head of the Priority Crimes Litigation Unit (PCLU), Advocate Ackermann.

As a result of the 2015 application, in 2016, a prosecution was brought against Coetzee, Pretorius, Mong, and Radebe for their role in the murder of Simelane. The State was required to provide legal representation for the accused police officers but refused to do so, delaying the matter even further. The Simelane family supported the application by the police officers to have their legal fees paid by the State in order to avoid further delays.

In 2018, the High Court delivered a judgment ordering the state to pay the legal fees on behalf of Coetzee, Pretorius, and Mong. This judgement was confirmation that the three police officers accused of Simelane’s murder were not acting in their own capacity, but rather as a part of the apartheid state apparatus.

It was only in 2019 that Thembi Nkadimeng, Nokuthula’s sister, launched an ex parte application for the finalisation of the presumption of death declaration, with regard to Nokuthula’s enforced disappearance. This culminated in Simelane’s death certificate being issued on 21 August 2019.

Since the NPA indicted the four accused in the Nokuthula Simelane matter on 14 March 2016, the trial has faced countless postponements. Further delay was caused by the claim in June 2022 by Coetzee’s legal team that he was mentally unfit to stand trial. Since then, the trial has faced further delay.

A section 77(3) of the Criminal Procedure Act inquiry on Coetzee’s fitness to stand trial is expected to be heard in September 2023.

Ntombikayise Kubheka

/ DATE OF DEATH

1987

/ THE STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE

36 years

/ CRIME

Torture, enforced disappearance and alleged murder

/ STAGE OF PROCEEDINGS

Inquest formally opened but no dates

/ AMNESTY

Seven individuals applied for amnesty for defeating the ends of justice, abduction and the murder of Kubheka. Lawrence Gerald Wasserman (alive), Johannes Petrus Botha (alive), Salomon Du Preez (alive) and Casper Adriaan Van Der Westhuizen (alive) were refused amnesty on all grounds. Adrian David Baker (alive) and Roelof Brand Visagie (alive) were granted amnesty for defeating the ends of justice while Simon Mokopo Radebe (deceased) for her abduction. Martinus Dawid Ras (alive) applied for amnesty but later withdrew his application. Andrew Russel Cavill Taylor applied for amnesty but died before his application was heard. The askaris including Xola Frank Mbane (alive), Nicholas Dube (alive) and Spyker Myeza did not apply for amnesty for their role in the abduction and murder of Kubheka.

Credit: Supplied by the family

OVERVIEW

Ntombikayise Kubheka was an anti-apartheid activist and a member of the armed wing of the banned African National Congress (ANC), uMkhonto weSizwe (MK). She worked as an operative for the organisation and was responsible for coordinating activities between the internal unit and the external unit of the ANC, as well as for coordinating other underground activities.

The Security Branch of the South African Police (SAP) regarded Kubheka as a senior ANC member and had classified her as being the leader of the KwaMashu ANC branch. Interested in information regarding the arrival of four MK members from Swaziland, Vlakplaas police officers joined forces with the Durban Security Branch to infiltrate Kubheka’s network. Two askaris from Vlakplaas befriended Ntombikayise in 1987. She trusted them, believing them to be MK operatives. In 1987, two askaris including Simon Radebe and Xola Mbane, under the command of their superior, Captain Adriaan Baker, lured Kubheka to the Durban Beach Front, where she was kidnapped by the Port Natal Security Branch.

She was driven to the Winklespruit Army Shooting Range where she was interrogated and tortured. It was alleged that she died during the interrogation. The Security Branch dumped her body in the vicinity of her home in Bhambhai, north of Durban.

Botha, Du Preez, Wasserman and Visagie were involved in the abduction of Ntombikayise and they all applied for amnesty. Botha and Wasserman were involved in interrogating her and they were present when she died. It was allegedly Du Preez and Wasserman who disposed of Ntombikayise’s body within the vicinity of her home. Visagie was not involved in the interrogation, and he was not present when Ntombikayise died, as he had gone with Baker and Du Preez to fetch provisions.

TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION (TRC)

At hearings conducted by the TRC, contrasting details surrounding Kubheka’s death were given by those involved. Information put forth by each applicant differed from the next. All involved, however, claimed that she had died of a heart attack. This version was rejected by the TRC Amnesty Committee.

AN INQUEST OPENED IN 2022

In October 2022, the NPA decided to open inquests into four matters, namely the murders and enforced disappearances of ANC activists and MK operatives in Kwa-Zulu Natal, including Ntombikayise “Ntombi” Kubheka, Musawenkosi “Sbho” Phewa, Zamukwenzani Bright Mlobeli/ Sokhulu, and Jameson Ngoloyi Mngomezulu.

The dates for an inquest are yet to be set at the Umlazi Magistrate Court.

PEBCO 3 Sipho Charles Hashe

/ DATE OF DEATH

May 1985

/ THE STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE

38 years

/ CRIME

Kidnapping and murder

/ STAGE OF PROCEEDINGS

Investigation by the Hawks is ongoing

/ AMNESTY

Nine individuals applied for amnesty for the abduction and murder of the PEBCO 3. Hermanus Barend Du Plessis (died in 2023), Johannes Martin Van Zyl (deceased), Gideon Nieuwoudt (deceased), Gerhardus Johannes Lotz (deceased) and Roelof Jacobus Venter (alive) were refused amnesty for abduction and murder of PEBCO 3. Gerhardus Cornelius Beeslaar (alive) was refused amnesty for abduction and assault. Kimani Peter Mogoai (deceased) was granted amnesty, while Johannes Koole (deceased) was refused amnesty for abduction and assault of Hashe and Godolozi. Joe Mamasela (alive) did not apply for amnesty.

OVERVIEW

In 1985, three members of the Port Elizabeth Black Civic Organisation (PEBCO) namely Sipho Hashe, Champion Galela, and Qaqawuli Godolozi were kidnapped, tortured and subsequently assassinated by members of the Security Branch of the South African Police (SAP) and members of Vlakplaas. Since their assassinations, the three activists have come to be known as the PEBCO 3.

Their kidnapping was attributed to the fact that PEBCO was said to be an affiliate organisation of the United Democratic Front (UDF), which was aligned with the African National Congress (ANC), a banned organisation.

Once captured by the police, the PEBCO 3 were driven to Post Chalmers, 300 kilometres from Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha) and were brutally tortured to death. The plan hatched by the Port Elizabeth Security Branch was that the activists were to be killed after interrogation, in order to weaken PEBCO in its mass mobilisation campaigns.

It was claimed that the bodies were placed on a pile of wood and burnt with diesel, and that the remains of their bodies were collected and thrown into the Fish River by Gideon Nieuwoudt the next day. However, according to the Missing Persons Task Team, the remains of the three were exhumed at Post Chalmers, an Eastern Cape farm during 2007.

TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION (TRC)

The case of the PEBCO 3 was brought before the TRC and nine individuals applied for amnesty.

Elizabeth Hashe, Nomati Galelo, and Monica Godolozi (the widows of the PEBCO 3) appeared before the TRC Human Rights Violations Committee. They urged the TRC to find out what happened to their husbands, arguing that their wish was for the TRC to investigate where, how, and why they were killed, and moreover, to find out who had killed their husbands.

ATTEMPTS TO PROSECUTE

In 2004, Gideon Nieuwoudt (died 2005), Johannes Martin van Zyl (deceased), and Johannes Koole (deceased) were charged with the abduction, assault, and murder of the PEBCO 3. Shortly after their bail hearings, however, Nieuwoudt and van Zyl applied for the review of the TRC Amnesty Committee’s refusal to grant them amnesty.

In 2009, the High Court ruled that an amnesty committee be convened to rehear the application of van Zyl. This resulted in the case being provisionally withdrawn against three police officers. The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) determined that the case could not proceed pending the amnesty decision. Following this determination, the Amnesty Committee has not reconvened, stalling the case.

The investigation by the Hawks into the murder of the PEBCO 3 is ongoing.

Ramatua Nicholas Tlhapi

/ DATE OF DEATH

20 March 1986

/ THE STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE

37 years / CRIME

Enforced disappearance and presumed murder

/ STAGE OF PROCEEDINGS

Investigation by the Hawks is ongoing

/ AMNESTY

No one applied for amnesty

Credit: Supplied by the family

OVERVIEW

Ramatha Nicholas Tlhapi, better known as Boytjie, was an anti-apartheid activist who hailed from Ikageng in the North-West province. On 4 March 1986, on the way to a funeral, Tlhapi and his friends were apprehended by the police in Stilfontein, in what was at the time known as the Western Transvaal.

21-year-old Tlhapi was detained under Section 29 of the Internal Security Act. George Mangwetjane, Tlhapi’s friend, informed the family about the arrest and that he last saw Tlhapi laying on the cell floor and bleeding from his nose and mouth. After his arrest, Tlhapi disappeared, while the family was desperately searching for him. To date, neither Tlhapi nor his remains have been found.

The inquest was held in 1995, which found that there were no grounds on which to find that Mr Tlhapi had died of unnatural causes.

TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION (TRC)

On 29 September 1989, Tlhapi’s father, James Barileng, testified before the Human Rights Violations Committee of the TRC.

James told the story of his son’s disappearance and explained how the initial search for Tlhapi did not turn up any evidence, and how his requests for subsequent searches were to no avail.

The TRC found that Tlhapi was assaulted and tortured by Warrant Officer Viljoen, Sergeant Makiti and Constables Tseladimitlwa, Tshwaedi, Majaja and Mano of the Jouberton Security Branch of the South African Police (SAP). The TRC also found the Jouberton Security Branch, together with the Commissioner of Police, the Head of the Security Branch and the Minister of Law and Order, responsible for Mr Tlhapi’s disappearance.

The investigation by the Hawks is ongoing.

Dr Rick Turner

/ DATE OF DEATH

8 January 1978

/ THE STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE

45 years

/ CRIME Murder

/ STAGE OF PROCEEDINGS

Investigation by the Hawks is ongoing

/ AMNESTY

No one applied for amnesty

OVERVIEW

Dr Richard Turner, more commonly known as Rick, was an anti-apartheid activist and an academic who was murdered in 1978. Turner completed his Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and proceeded to study philosophy at the Sorbonne in Paris, France, where he received his doctorate. Upon his return to South Africa, Turner worked as an academic at various universities.

TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION (TRC)

Credit:

Once he arrived in Durban, Turner met Steve Biko. The two quickly became close comrades and were leading figures in what became known as the Durban Moment, a period in the early 1970s when the city emerged as a vibrant hub of anti-apartheid struggle. Black consciousness and trade unionism began to emerge as focal points of the struggle in Durban. Turner had been banned since 1973 for his opposition to apartheid and had been repeatedly harassed by the Security Branch during the 1970s.

On 8 January 1978, Turner was at his home on Dalton Avenue in Bellair, a suburb in Durban, when he was shot through the window. His two young daughters were with him in the house at the time.

Several months of investigation occurred in the aftermath of his murder, but significant evidence was not found, and his killers were never identified. The family and the public were, however, of the belief that Turner was murdered by the Security Branch of the South African Police (SAP).

At a Section 29 hearing of the TRC, the original investigating officer, Chris Earle, testified that Turner had been killed by apartheid state agents. Bureau of State Security (BOSS) agent Martin Dolinchek and Piet Botha were treated as primary suspects in the case. After testing the firearms belonging to those Earle had positioned as potential suspects, no matches were found. Both denied having been involved in Turner’s assassination. According to the TRC, Vlakplaas Commander Eugene de Kock reported that Botha told him that Dolinchek had killed Turner while his brother-in-law, von Scheer, drove the getaway car.

The TRC later found that Turner was killed by the security forces but it was unable to name the killers. The TRC also established that it was the National Police Commissioner, General G.L. Prinsloo, who had ordered the investigation into Turner’s murder to be shut down.

NEW EVIDENCE EMERGES IN THE REOPENED HAFFEJEE INQUEST

At the beginning of 2023, 45 years after Turner had been murdered, new hope emerged in the wake of the reopening of the Hoosen Haffejee inquest. Mohun Gopal, who was a junior Security Branch constable at the time, told the court that he had been ordered to observe Turner’s comings and goings a month before he was murdered. Gopal claimed that when it found out that Turner had been assassinated, he was shocked but was not privy to the details of the murder.

The investigation into the murder of Rick Turner is ongoing.

Tumelo Richard Motasi Busisiwe Irene Motasi

Credit: Supplied by the family

/ DATE OF DEATH

1 December 1987

/ THE STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE

36 years

/ CRIME Murder

/ STAGE OF PROCEEDINGS

Investigation by the Hawks is ongoing

/ AMNESTY

Colonel Philip Johannes Cornelius Loots (alive), Captain Jaques Hechter (died in 2023), Paul Jacobus Jansen van Vuuren (deceased), Marthinus Dawid Ras and Brigadier Jan Hatting Cronje applied for amnesty. Loots and Ras were granted amnesty for both murders. Hechter and Van Vuuren were granted amnesty for the murder of Richard but refused for the murder of Irene. General Jacob Gabrielle Roux Stemmet (alive), Colonel Kloppers, Joe Mamasela and Slang Danny Selahle (deceased) did not apply for amnesty.

OVERVIEW

Tumelo Richard Motasi was a policeman based at the Hammanskraal Police College. The Northern Transvaal Security Police compiled a file on him which suggested that he was an ANC agent giving sensitive information over to the ANC in Zimbabwe and Johannesburg. His activities were apparently the subject of discussions at the Northern Transvaal Divisional Crime Meeting. The evidence from Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Amnesty Hearings, indicates that General Jacob Gabrielle Roux Stemmet (the Divisional Commissioner of the Northern Transvaal Division), General Ras, Brigadier Jack Cronje and Colonel Kloppers instructed Captain Loots, Captain Hechter and Warrant Officer Van Vuuren to eliminate Motasi as he was a threat to the Security Branch of the South African Police (SAP) and the government of the day.

Loots then requested Mamasela (a Vlakplaas askari) to establish the actual address of Motasi. Mamasela did so and reported back to Loots. On the evening of 1 December 1987, Loots, Hechter, Van Vuuren, Mamasela and the driver Danny Selahle, went to the Motasi home. Mamasela knocked on the Motasi home front door and spoke to Mrs. Irene Motasi who told Mamasela that Motasi was not at home. Mamasela then took Mrs. Motasi and her small child into the bedroom and kept them captive in the bedroom awaiting Motasi. Loots, Hechter and Van Vuuren waited in the lounge. A while later Motasi came home. Loots, Hechter and Van Vuuren subdued Motasi using a cushion, and shot him. Ms Motasi was then killed in the bedroom. The following morning Loots reported back to Stemmet and the others that Motasi had been killed. The son of Richard and Irene, Tshidiso Motasi was in the house at the time of murder.

TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION (TRC)

Some of those responsible for the killing applied for amnesty and testified that they had been told that Mr Motasi was suspected of having made contact with the ANC. Others were refused or never applied for amnesty.

Mrs Motasi’s mother, Mrs Gloria Hlanangane, testified before the TRC Amnesty Committee of the circumstances surrounding the deaths of her daughter and sonin-law, in particular, trauma and pain that she had endured when discovering the bodies and when searching for her grandson:

“I went into the bedroom. That is their son’s bedroom, or their child’s bedroom. I looked for the child, but I couldn’t find the child. I looked in all the other rooms without any success, and I started getting very confused at this stage because I didn’t know where the child was. And when I went outside, I heard – I could feel somebody grabbing me and it was the child. I took the child …”.

The investigation by the Hawks into the murder of Mrs and Mr Motasi is ongoing.

Credit: Supplied by the family