South Africa reopens the investigation into the assassination in Cradock of four anti-apartheid activists-Liberation

South African justice announced this Monday, June 2, reopening the investigation into the voluntary homicides of four anti-apartheid activists committed in 1985 by a special police unit. These crimes, better known as « Cradock murders », remain among The best known events and The darkest of apartheidnever elucidated. The families of the victims notably accuse the Post-Apartheid government of having voluntarily prevented the case from going to court, when no one has yet been brought to justice.

In 1985, the teachers Fort Calata, Matthew Goniwe, Sicelo Mhlauli and the rail worker Sparrow Mkonto had been kidnapped and then killed while returning home after a political meeting, in the city of Cradock, in the south of the country. « After 40 years, families are still waiting for justice and truth », Advocate Howard Varney, representing the relatives of the four men, told the Court of Opening.

« We intend to demonstrate that the death of the four of Cradock is the result of a calculated and premeditated decision of the apartheid regime, taken at the highest level of the state security system »continued Howard Varney in court in the city of Gqeberha, in the province of Cap-Oriental, located in the south of the country.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Responsible for shedding light on political crimes committed under apartheid, had indeed refused amnesty to six men involved in the « Cradock murders ». This refusal therefore exposed them to prosecution. However, the post-Apartheid authorities have never taken any measure in this direction, deplored the lawyer.

If this can be explained by a « Toxic mixture of inaction, indifference, inability or incompetence », families also believe that « Political forces have intervened to prevent procedures from moving forward »he added.

“This investigation is probably the very last chance for families to obtain a form of truth. They deserve nothing less than a complete and honest examination of the past ”, continued the lawyer. This is the third survey open on the « Cradock murders », which occurred at the height of the repression exerted by the white minority regime against anti-apartheid activists.

Accusations of deliberate delays in the proceedings linked to crimes of the apartheid era also led President Cyril Ramaphosa to set up a judicial commission last April. A few months earlier, in January, 25 families of victims and survivors of crimes committed under apartheid, including those of the « Cradock murders », had announced that they were pursuing the state for its « Manifest failure » to investigate and continue those responsible.