Legal funding delays apartheid-era Cradock Four inquest

The long-awaited reopening of the inquest into the killing of the Cradock Four was last week postponed in the Eastern Cape High Court (Gqeberha) over delays in legal funding for former police and defence force members, and a family member of one of the four. When the inquest into the murders of the Cradock Four finally starts in June 2025, it will be 40 years since the victims died. ‘Justice for me would be that people will come to tell the whole story. I want to know why they did that to him,’ said Nomonde Calata, the widow of Fort Calata. The Daily Maverick reports that Calata, Sicelo Mhlauli, Sparrow Mkonto and Matthew Goniwe were murdered by the Security Branch while returning from Port Elizabeth on 27 June 1985. There have been two inquests into their deaths. The first, held in 1987, concluded that the Cradock Four had been killed by ‘unknown persons’. No one was prosecuted. A second inquest in 1993, presided over by the former Judge President of the Eastern Cape High Court, Judge Neville Zietsman, found that the police had caused the Cradock Four’s deaths. However, no individuals were named as being responsible. Again, no one was prosecuted. In 1999, six former police officers involved in the Cradock Four’s arrest and murder appeared before the Amnesty Committee of the TRC, but none of them was granted amnesty. The latest inquest was postponed because of a delay in fees paid to counsel representing former State Security officials and police officers. Mbulelo Goniwe, a nephew of Matthew Goniwe, also wants his legal representation paid for by the state.

Goniwe’s wife, Nyameka, and his daughter, Nobuzwe, have both died. Advocate Howard Varney, appearing for the Calata, Mhlauli and Mkonto families, said it was agreed in August 2023 that the inquest would be reopened. DM notes the then Justice Minister Ronald Lamola, confirmed this on 4 January 2024. ‘A toxic mix of political interference, incompetence and indifference has shut down virtually all the TRC cases over the past two decades,’ said Varney. ‘There are only a handful of cases that can be taken forward, and the clock is ticking on all of them. Yet we see little sense of urgency on the part of the authorities. It is high time that the NPA, State Attorney and the relevant departments, namely the SAPS and the SANDF, came together to work out a seamless approach to the question of legal costs to avoid this wholly unnecessary fiasco from happening again.’ He said the ‘persons of interest’ who were still alive were ‘in the twilight of their lives’. They are Gerrit Nicholas Erasmus (88), a former Lieutenant-General and head of the Port Elizabeth Security Branch, Major-General Krappies Engelbrecht, who was head of the police’s Counter-intelligence Department, Joffel van der Westhuizen (82), a former Lieutenant-General in the SADF, Craig Williamson (75), former head of Security Branch Intelligence, and Neil Barnard (75), former director of the National Intelligence Service. ‘Given the advanced ages of these individuals, it is highly likely that some will not be available to testify by the time this inquest is eventually held. This will be devastating for the families,’ said Varney. Judge Nomathamsanqa Beshe postponed the inquest, which is now scheduled for 2 to 20 June 2025.

Full News24 report

Full Daily Maverick report