News | Sport | TV | Radio | Education | TV Licenses | Contact Us |
Cradock FourExplanation Dorothy is the eldest daughter of the late Fort Calata, one of the four murdered activists known as the Cradock Four. Humbulelo is the late Matthew Goniwe’s nephew. They too do not regret their loss, but like the other families insist that the truth is one route to reconciliation. There were other storms brewing one of which affected Doris Hermanus directly. In 1984 the entire Lingelihle village council resigned and were accepted back into the community. They were the first of the black local authorities in the Eastern Cape to resign. Hermanus was one of the councillors, who ... The perpetrators of my husband’s killing, they should not only be exposed, but they should appear in court so that everybody can see them. // And this was when Col Gideon Niewoudt’s name came up again. ‘The Violated’ // On the 15th of April 1996, almost exactly two years ago, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission took its seat for the first time in the East London City Hall. The road ahead was an unknown one. As Archbishop Desmond Tutu symbolically opened proceedings a solemn hymn swept ... ... eventually happen. // What in your view would be justice around their deaths? // Justice? OK it’s very difficult. Well a lot of harm was done to Cradock. He wasn’t just my father, he was the father of Cradock; they were actually the fathers of Cradock. Justice to me would certainly not be ... And as far as farms go one identifies at least three categories. What appears from investigations thus far is that there were farms which were used as headquarters by the security police or by Vlakplaas-type units. We had Vlakplaas; we had Andy Taylor’s Camp Adon, a farm he used as headquarters. ... General Mortimer’s submission was not received well. // I find it almost unbelievable that in 80 pages there can be no acknowledgement or acceptance that the SADF in implementing a policy of apartheid could bear no responsibility for a single death. I find it impossible to believe that those who ... ... The Motherwell bombing case: the state alleges that he was involved in the murder of other policemen. // At an inquest in 1993 into the murder of four other Eastern Cape activists, Niewoudt once again denied that he was ever involved in torturing the detainees. // Major Niewoudt also denied ... ... so called source of the death signal, signed by the JMC chairman, Brig Joffel van der Westhuysen. Last year the TRC heard from the families of the Cradock Four. They told of their suffering and loss of their loved ones. They also had many questions to ... put it into black bags. I had the instruction from Capt van Zyl to destroy all evidence of what I had done. I took it to the Fish River, just before Cradock, before you enter Cradock. I emptied the bags into the river and we left for Port Elizabeth. ... ... incident of physical violence two United Democratic Front committee members had been stabbed and set alight after an attack on their car between Cradock and Port Elizabeth. A police spokesman has named the two murdered men as Mr Sparrow Mkonto of Cradock and Mr Sicelo Mhlauli of Oudtshoorn. ... There is no doubt that the amnesty hearing in relation to the deaths of the Cradock Four is one of the most important cases to be heard in the Eastern Cape. The Amnesty Committee has spent the last two weeks listening to testimony and they have now adjourned until June or July when further ... ... Yes. // Now ... of this information that was furnished to the Committee under oath whether that clearly indicates that the persons you refer to as Cradock Four in inverted commas, the question was discussed at GBS meetings and the information available to the GBS was made available to you when ... Ivor Lang and Benjamin Tucker of Steve Biko infamy. Port Elizabeth, 1985 was a nightmare. It was the year of the Langa massacre, of the death of the Cradock Four, of the disappearance of the Pebco three, of the declaration of the State of Emergency. I used to go through an army roadblock every day ... ... to uncover the truth. You need just to think of say the Pebco Three; the sort of things that we now know. Or the bombing of Khotso House, or the Cradock Four and perhaps most heartrendingly you might refer to the exhumations of people who were killed secretly and buried secretly and what all ... The Cradock Four amnesty hearing continues in Port Elizabeth next week. If Harold Snyman does testify he may disclose dramatic new details of the chain of command. We’ll have to see what the doctors say. It is difficult for all of us to listen to former policemen and other perpetrators confess to ... Not all the stories told in East London were as well known as those of the Pebco Three and the Cradock Four, but their accounts were no less disturbing. Nohle Mohapi was Steve Biko’s secretary, her husband Mapetla was killed in police cells. // After the death of Mapetla I was full of hate. I was ... many mysterious murders carried out by the security police. The Motherwell bomb attack, the killing of Matthew Goniwe and three others, known as the Cradock Four, Siphiwo Mtimkulu, Sizwe Kondile and the Pebco Three. These men have finally told the families how they kidnapped, tortured and murdered ... ... submitting to us is going to go to the heart of the matter, namely indicate to the nation… we have been asked by the Pebco Three, what have you, Cradock Four, those families have said ‘we want the bones, we want this, we want that’ and we have a duty to those people. And if they would ... ... Champion Galela and Qaqawuli Godolozi were abducted from Port Elizabeth Airport. They were taken to Post Chalmers, a disused police station in Cradock and eliminated. Five Eastern Cape security policemen Harold Snyman, Hermanus du Plessis, Johan van Zyl, Gideon Niewoudt and Gerhardus Lotz ... |